visa and MasterCard are forcing steam and other companies to either remove games THEY don’t agree with or be dropped by Mc/visa.
it’s just corporate censorship at its finest. credit card companies can essentially tell steam what they are or are not allowed to sell for some weird as fuck reason.
The weird as fuck reason is steam would no longer be able to take payments through MC or visa. That’s an insane loss of revenue. Valve would have to pay a third party to take payments.
That’s such an unnecessary gotcha response lol. Obviously they are reliant on those payment processors for their revenue, which is the very reason they are complying.
The point is that those two payment processors essentially run credit card payments in the west, and use that dominance to force their values on their clients.
Collective Shout, an Australian organization lobbies the payment processors to ban adult content from the internet, The payment processors acquiescence to Collective Shout.
Collective Shout is a self-described feminist non-partisan organization, but has alleged ties with anti-trans and conservative organizations. The group has developed a reputation as a sort of puritan crusade that targets everything from Detroit: Become Human to Tyler, the Creator.
Although itch.io has an adult content filter that can be toggled in a user’s settings, indicating whether they want explicit content to be visible in search results and on the store page, the sudden deindexing of NSFW comics, zines, books, games, and other published products on the website means that unless users type in direct links to explicit products, they cannot access them. As is often the case when explicit content is removed en masse, LGBTQIA+, furry, and other content that is considered “obscene” by conservative groups has also been delisted or removed, as reported by The Transfeminine Review. This is especially dangerous in a time when politicians and others in power (i.e. influential billionaires) are actively dehumanizing and disappearing trans people, immigrants, and anyone who steps out of line with the current regime.
I read somewhere that Collective Shout swayed the processors with around 1000 comments. And that because payment processors generally get so few comments that they felt like that was enough to make the policy change. Those of us who do care should probably figure out how to comment and push back. Might not be enough to save what was lost, but we shouldn’t let them get away with such an easy win.
Edit: found a thread on bluesky where this is already being organized. Also a link to a change.org petition. Obviously the phone numbers and contact forms linked in the Bluesky thread are probably the better route if you have the time, but anything is better than nothing.
Credit card companies pressured Steam to remove some content that has incest/rape in it, specifically stuff that is easily searched because there is still content with it available on Steam.
Recently credit card companies pressured Itch to remove all NSFW.
The only common thread is that video game selling platforms are bending over to make it so you cant buy stuff where you see stuff that bends over probably because of religion n oppressed small penis syndrome or something.
I don’t know wtf that first one is so im assuming something similar but I dont really care any more because Ive got a pirate hat and a provider of my high seas who doesnt give a shit either.
Someone update me. /r/OutOfTheLoop
visa and MasterCard are forcing steam and other companies to either remove games THEY don’t agree with or be dropped by Mc/visa.
it’s just corporate censorship at its finest. credit card companies can essentially tell steam what they are or are not allowed to sell for some weird as fuck reason.
https://www.engadget.com/gaming/steam-now-bans-games-that-violate-the-rules-and-standards-of-payment-processors-and-banks-164222173.html
The weird as fuck reason is steam would no longer be able to take payments through MC or visa. That’s an insane loss of revenue. Valve would have to pay a third party to take payments.
That’s such an unnecessary gotcha response lol. Obviously they are reliant on those payment processors for their revenue, which is the very reason they are complying.
The point is that those two payment processors essentially run credit card payments in the west, and use that dominance to force their values on their clients.
not credit card, debit
It’s for sure a dominant oligarchic industry that benefits government and shareholders to the detriment of everyone else.
But I don’t think they have values. Just cost analysis: the price of litigation and punishment.
Another great example of why their monopoly racket should be destroyed.
If only there exists a technology
Collective Shout, an Australian organization lobbies the payment processors to ban adult content from the internet, The payment processors acquiescence to Collective Shout.
https://www.gameshub.com/news/article/australian-anti-porn-group-collective-shout-escalates-its-war-for-video-game-censorship-2736180
https://www.comicsbeat.com/itch-io-delists-removes-explicit-comics-zines-games-more-under-pressure-from-payment-processors
I read somewhere that Collective Shout swayed the processors with around 1000 comments. And that because payment processors generally get so few comments that they felt like that was enough to make the policy change. Those of us who do care should probably figure out how to comment and push back. Might not be enough to save what was lost, but we shouldn’t let them get away with such an easy win.
Edit: found a thread on bluesky where this is already being organized. Also a link to a change.org petition. Obviously the phone numbers and contact forms linked in the Bluesky thread are probably the better route if you have the time, but anything is better than nothing.
Credit card companies pressured Steam to remove some content that has incest/rape in it, specifically stuff that is easily searched because there is still content with it available on Steam.
Recently credit card companies pressured Itch to remove all NSFW.
The only common thread is that video game selling platforms are bending over to make it so you cant buy stuff where you see stuff that bends over probably because of religion n oppressed small penis syndrome or something.
I don’t know wtf that first one is so im assuming something similar but I dont really care any more because Ive got a pirate hat and a provider of my high seas who doesnt give a shit either.
i mean i’m not sure what you imagine the alternative is for the platforms, fuckin’ bitcoin?