[wokkel]

It's a stupid situation that banks and payment processors force their ethics upon while other companies take the blame (valve in this case). They should just dommoney transfers and as long as the transfer itself is legal should not have any opinion on the parties or product involved in the transaction.

[kasey_junk]

There are 3 issues being commingled within this.

First, the networks have brand protection stipulations for any partner that uses the network. None of them want to be known as the porn brand.

Second, porn (and other similar categories) have a different risk profile than other charges. Specifically chargeback risk goes through the roof. None of the members of the network want to deal with sales of things that spike chargebacks.

Third, the federal government and some states have outsourced enforcement of some laws to the banks and payment networks. It’s easier to ban things than to do this enforcement at times.

None of this is a ethics issue and none of this is about money transfers. It’s about extending credit, and there is no technical solution around credit extension with electronic payments.

[devnullbrain]

This is not true. Here's a page from Collective Shout, the group mentioned in the article:

https://www.collectiveshout.org/steam_campaign_history

[diath]

Considering the fact that these payment processors are still happily processing payments from PornHub, OnlyFans and other big real porn platforms, I don't think your explanation about the networks not wanting to be associated with porn holds any ground. They're targeting video games specifically.

[Forgeties79]

> none of this is an ethics issue

A puritanical activist group circumvents the law/courts and successfully pressures the handful of companies that control the vast majority of transactions to remove content they find distasteful - content that is 100% legal - but this isn’t an ethics discussion?

[immibis]

None of this has to be about extending credit. People are trying to buy games with money they have. Why do you say credit has to be involved?

They could try cash-by-mail, like Mullvad.