Censorship by Payment Processors

[ZoneOfAnubis]

It has come to light that payment processors acting on behalf of activist organizations are forcing platforms like steam and itch.io to ban and/or censor legal adult content.

This needs to be stopped, regardless of your views on NSFW content. They came for game, they will come for everything else including sites like this.

If you are against censorship please consider signing the petition and calling and/or emailing Visa and Mastercard expressing your displeasure.

Petition at Change.org:

Sign the Petition

Tell MasterCard, Visa & Activist Groups: Stop Controlling What We Can Watch, Read, or Play

www.change.org

Info from Reddit user daicon

Visa Inc.
https://investor.visa.com/corporate-governance/contact-the-board/default.aspx#emailForm
Phone: 1-800-847-2911 OR +1-303-967-1096 (international)
Mail: c/o the Chairman, CEO, General Counsel or Corporate Secretary, P.O. Box 8999, San Francisco, CA 94128
businessconduct@visa.com
globalmedia@visa.com

Mastercard Inc.
https://b2b.mastercard.com/contact-us/
Corporate Office: 914-249-2000
Operations Center in Missouri: 636-722-6100
investor.relations@mastercard.com

PayPal Holdings, Inc.
AskPayPal on X
Phone: 1-888-221-1161
Mail: PayPal Headquarters, 2211 North First Street, San Jose, California 95131
EEOMALegalSpecialist@paypal.com <---HERE!!
executiveescalations@paypal.com

Most importantly, those in the USA should consider contacting their Congressmen (phone or email) and tell them you want to support these bills:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/401
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/987
I would urge them to support it, and even urge them to strengthen the wording of it to put more restrictions on credit card companies, not just banks. ( Find Your Congressmen )

Then, I think those in the USA should contact the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and file a complaint. Doing this next is good, as its the most consumer focused of the organizations:
Submit a complaint about a financial product or service
Phone: 1-855-411-2372
Mail: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 1700 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20552

Lastly, you submit a complaint detailing the issues to the DOJ's Antitrust Division or FTC:
Department of Justice – Antitrust Division
https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/
Phone: 1-855-411-2372
Mail: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 1700 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20552
Federal Trade Commission
https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/
Phone: 1-877-382-4357
Mail: Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Response Center, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580

 

[spktr alpha]

A Second petition, which might be more impactful due to it being brought under the ACLU.

Mastercard: Sex Work is Work. End Your Unjust Policy.

Mastercard's new policy unfairly targets the adult content industry, making sex workers more vulnerable, especially Black trans women. It must be stopped.

action.aclu.org

It targets Mastercard specifically and includes advocacy for both Sex Workers and Adult Content Creators.

It is for the US only as far as I can tell but I would recommend sharing and spreading the word even if you can't sign it. The petition itself is nearing its goal.

 

[StreamingViking]

I wonder if soon an EU initiative regarding this is also going to be started.

 

[Rivan9000]

Honestly this whole thing sucks. Why are folk going after fictional content with fictional characters? Making a game with artist and programmers and voice actors... consent is practically baked into the process. There is little room for exploitation.

I just... don't get it.

 

[CptTagon]

Honestly this whole thing sucks. Why are folk going after fictional content with fictional characters? Making a game with artist and programmers and voice actors... consent is practically baked into the process. There is little room for exploitation.

I just... don't get it.

Click to shrink...

It's hard to answer that without a Rule 8 breach.

 

[Rivan9000]

It's hard to answer that without a Rule 8 breach.

Click to shrink...

Sorry.
Don't answer if it will get you in trouble. I'm just.... frustrated.

 

[CptTagon]

Also, if people want a form letter to submit to their Senator or Rep, here's one.

Dear [Legislator Name],
I am concerned about the recent rise in censorship of legal adult content.
1) Regulate Visa/Mastercard/PayPal to prevent them from blocking legal fictional adult content from their network.
Recently, many legal 18+ videogame titles were removed from the popular video gaming platform Steam due to requirements from payment processors. Fictional content should not be censored as this is a violation of our First Amendment rights. Visa, Mastercard & PayPal represent a payment oligopoly -- it is not possible for merchants to survive in the United States without using their networks. There is no other viable way for creators to be paid for their fictional works, but all three have engaged in heavy censorship. Thus, I request you introduce or support a bill to regulate Visa/Mastercard/PayPal and ensure all legal fictional adult content may be sold on their networks.
2) Institute a nationwide halt to mandatory Age Verification for adults to access 18+ content.
Many states have passed Age Verification laws that impinge upon Americans' First Amendment right to access adult content. These laws harm our privacy and put us at risk. You should not need to upload your ID to a website to access free speech. These restrictions are unreasonable, and do nothing to prevent children from accessing adult content. Uploading IDs is inheritly unsafe: one of the members of the pro-AV lobby is Experian, a well known data broker who has suffered a catastrophic data breach in past. And most users are not willing to do so: a major traditional adult content site cited a ~90% reduction in traffic after implementing Age Verification checks, signaling that creators that comply with the legislation are doomed to fail financially. I request new legislation to eliminate mandatory age verification requirements nationwide for adult content.
I thank you for your time. These are important issues to me and will affect my voting in the next election.
[Optional: I am a voter in your legislative district and requesting a written response.]
Sincerely,
[First Name] [Last Name]

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[FTR2017]

Huh. I was reading through some very interesting trivia regarding this subject.

It all comes down to obscene chargeback rates, counterfeiting, and hijacked credit accounts that makes all things porn a mess.

A mess which removes delicious money from their bank coffers, 'cause they charge per transaction ... but by law are required to invert the transaction in an attempt at client protection that went awry into today's mess.

Which leads to these banking systems gleefully take the excuse to excise awful customers from their databases. Or something like it.

More details here.

Now, regarding the moral outrage milkers who are screeching out loud to the void? Well, rule 8 rules supreme, and these maggots are grifting at everyone else's expense, even waving concerns about kiddies ... while also ignoring the actual kiddies and human trafficking victims.

Artists don't fight back and have no clout in the government, unlike human traffickers.

I did my best to avoid rule-8 issues, but nowadays one can never be too sure about it.

 

[The_Fenestrated]

Huh. I was reading through some very interesting trivia regarding this subject.

It all comes down to obscene chargeback rates, counterfeiting, and hijacked credit accounts that makes all things porn a mess.

A mess which removes delicious money from their bank coffers, 'cause they charge per transaction ... but by law are required to invert the transaction in an attempt at client protection that went awry into today's mess.

Which leads to these banking systems gleefully take the excuse to excise awful customers from their databases. Or something like it.

More details here.

Click to shrink...

Yes, that's what they claim. Forgive me if I dont believe it's their main motivation.

If they actually came out and said "Sex is icky" they would get pushback.

So they couch it in economic things that are somewhat true

 

[humon]

These days I can never tell whether things are malice or stupidity, and if they are malice, whether it's a sort of calculated Machiavellian malice, or more of an insane lashing out at the world in the spirit of Cain and mouse utopia sort of malice. I have to be very careful about projecting my own rationality onto people and organizations that might actually not be rational at all, but just internally broken.

There's a story I remember hearing, where a city was about to be attacked by a horde of barbarians, and all the elites of the city waited at the gates for the barbarians to come, but the day passed and the barbarians didn't come, and the city's elites then sighed in despair, because it meant they had to go back to ruling their mess of a city for another day. Something like that. Internal contradictions can build up to the point where you cry out for a violent outside force to come smashing through and save you from your own insanity. And then you just keep pushing and pushing, subconsciously seeking that outcome, or searching for the boundary that will trigger it.

 

[.We]

Next up Pacifists will want to ban all violent/military content so children can be truly safe.

If only we had laws that forced all the important monopolies like utility companies, payment processors and internet service providers to act neutrally and serve all members of public.