The fact that Visa and MasterCard are the primary payment options for OnlyFans, makes this story a mess. Some time ago Visa and MasterCard very vocally banned Pornhub (at least) from using their cards, 100% sure this comes from them.
Ultimately the ban was undone in exchange for onlyfans limiting the type of content available on the platform. So effectively, payment processors dictate which type of sexual activities, performed by consenting adults, are OK to depict and sell. Why? Why do they have that power?
The government historically uses the the financial industry to police crimes and behavior that it does not want to or that it is not expedient to police directly. Clearly they like the outcomes of the payment networks' rules and enforcement decisions and see no need for things to change.
Not exactly. Visa was named as a counterparty in a class action against Mindgeek for monetizing child porn on their website. They lost, and there have been subsequent class actions.
If it was indeed Collective Shout's pressure campaign that led to Valve and itch.io being told by their payment processors to remove games, then this is how it went:
Collective Shout -> Mastercard -> Mastercard's head of brand risk (or equivalent role) -> Mastercard's business partners -> Valve and itch.io
We know it was Mastercard who told the payment processors what to do, as the rule they cited to Valve says "in the sole discretion of the Corporation, may damage the goodwill of the Corporation" -- the Mastercard Corporation used its sole discretion to tell payment processors what to tell Valve and itch.io. The payment processors did not decide this for themselves.
Mob bosses order hits, wise guys carry them out. The mob boss has clean hands.
Keep the pressure on Mastercard.
We need to stop these side-channel attacks on democracy. If a government deems some media lawful, you shouldn't get to de-facto ban it by going after publicity-averse private companies that provide hosting, payment processing, etc. https://protectthestack.org/
In this story, Itch and Valve are 10x more trustworthy than the card processors.
The fact that Visa and MasterCard are the primary payment options for OnlyFans, makes this story a mess. Some time ago Visa and MasterCard very vocally banned Pornhub (at least) from using their cards, 100% sure this comes from them.
You mean like this?
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/aug/19/onlyfans-to-...
Ultimately the ban was undone in exchange for onlyfans limiting the type of content available on the platform. So effectively, payment processors dictate which type of sexual activities, performed by consenting adults, are OK to depict and sell. Why? Why do they have that power?
The government historically uses the the financial industry to police crimes and behavior that it does not want to or that it is not expedient to police directly. Clearly they like the outcomes of the payment networks' rules and enforcement decisions and see no need for things to change.
> Visa and MasterCard very vocally banned Pornhub
Not exactly. Visa was named as a counterparty in a class action against Mindgeek for monetizing child porn on their website. They lost, and there have been subsequent class actions.
> Some time ago Visa and MasterCard very vocally banned Pornhub (at least) from using their cards, 100% sure this comes from them.
That was because the government was prosecuting Pornhub for breaking the law (rape with real people, unlike these games).
Oh 100% agree there. It's who they have to deal with who are the problem.
That also suggests they do not want to out exactly who pushed them to this, whether it was external or internal.
But it seems fairly straightforward who it is.
If it was indeed Collective Shout's pressure campaign that led to Valve and itch.io being told by their payment processors to remove games, then this is how it went:
We know it was Mastercard who told the payment processors what to do, as the rule they cited to Valve says "in the sole discretion of the Corporation, may damage the goodwill of the Corporation" -- the Mastercard Corporation used its sole discretion to tell payment processors what to tell Valve and itch.io. The payment processors did not decide this for themselves.Mob bosses order hits, wise guys carry them out. The mob boss has clean hands.
Keep the pressure on Mastercard.
We need to stop these side-channel attacks on democracy. If a government deems some media lawful, you shouldn't get to de-facto ban it by going after publicity-averse private companies that provide hosting, payment processing, etc. https://protectthestack.org/