Only a matter of time before the same thing happens to itch.io

It's been like this for a while in the porn industry. In an interview a while back, Bree Mills says she gets more limited by payment processors than the government (though that might be switching). Ever wonder why every faux-incest video goes out of the way to say everyone is a step family? Step father, step daughter, step mother, step brother, all somehow living in the same house, over 18, and no blood relation? The first amendment protects them from the US government, so that's not why. Credit card companies are why. The old Taboo series was distributed differently back in the day. Can't make that anymore. This also applies to some of the more extreme BDSM stuff, like blood play or scat. Won't find them on kink.com.

So? It's a game with a representation of something that can't even happen. It doesn't even get to the point where you could have a discussion about simulation creating a demand for real that some things have because it's not even remotely realistic. It's not my cup of tea, but that just means I don't look at it. It's because you think it's icky and you don't know how to handle those feelings, isn't it?

When did you decide your sexuality? Did you decide what sex you're attracted to? No you didn't. If that where the case, anyone could change at any time they wanted. Ask Turing how that went for him. Or any other homosexual through the ages.

I find the fact that people want to fuck animals pretty nasty, yes.

Not really. In the US, the first amendment protects a lot. Just like with YouTube censorship, capitalism has created a more restrictive regime through financial pressure than the government does. This has affected the porn industry, as well (see another comment in this subthread on that).

I 100% agreed. BUt maybe some people thought it sounded like a good idea.

I'm sure the young escorts in Cancun are unaffected by this.

in some previous times something like this happened (I forgot specifically which), visa/mastercard would deny all payments with a platform until whatever offended them was removed (don't know if they only threatened that or actually followed through)

Because I'm not a right-libertarian who ignores how corporations setup coercive structures all their own in a perversion of free association.

They shouldn’t be allowed to do that. They should be required to process any legal payment. Even the icky ones.

It's not even legal risk. It's *brand* risk. There's a difference with cannabis shops because that's actually still federally illegal. As such, the required business accounts and tax documents required to use a national payment processor are often not forthcoming. It's a low level regulation that you can't generally tell a federal bank you'd like an account to store the proceeds of a federal crime. With porn, the legal standards and protections are pretty well established. As long as the company is in possession of the required tax documents and business accounts, there's no legal risk beyond the standard due diligence they need to do for every customer. Visa isn't generally liable if a tire shop is discovered to be breaking a non-financial law. What processors don't want is to have their brand attached to something that they worry could make them look bad.

Because they're a financial institution, not an individual. They don't have beliefs. Arguing that corporate "beliefs" (image management) and interests take priority over societal order is ridiculous. We regulate banks and financial institutions all the time. We regulate *businesses* all the time. They should suck it up and treat businesses with legal activities and proper tax documents as just another business. Kinda like how we have laws that say that public shipping companies need to generally treat all customers the same. It's why they don't typically ask what's in the box aside from questions related to operational characteristics. Porn doesn't spontaneously ignite and threaten an aircraft, but lithium batteries can.

Well then stuff your puritanical BS. Stop making your discomfort towards something that causes no harm into someone else’s problem.

> Imagine you can't use visa or mastercard. What other fucking payment card acceptance system are you going to use for payment processing in under 30 seconds? This is one of the few places where I think cryptocurrency could be useful. It ain't much, but there it is.

> Arguing that corporate "beliefs" (image management) and interests take priority over societal order is ridiculous. Good thing I'm not arguing that.

Incorrect! Bitcoin transactions take 10 FUCKING MINUTES.

How many fingering minutes is that?

i agree. However, they'll continue to get away with it because it aligns with republican psuedo-christian ideals of oppression.

In a world without regulation etc... maybe. Bottom line we've given payment processors power. Bottom line we need to buy things in the digital world, unless crypto can actually be stabilized or designed in a way that doesn't require an unsustainable massive energy waste and polution to use. There either needs to be a universal good as cash payment processor that anyone can easily use... or we need to force ones that exist to transfer payments without bias.