OnlyFans drops planned porn ban • Hacker News Board

Re: OnlyFans drops planned porn ban

#61

Post by glitchc » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 1:15 PM UTC

LeftHandPath wrote: post #5

yeldarb wrote: post #2

Wonder if this was all a publicity stunt to put pressure on their payment processors.

If so, I think that's a good thing. This should bring attention to payment processors' ability to effectively kill any type of business they don't agree with. I'm not sure what the solution is. Should banks be forced to behave as a common carrier? Or do we want private companies to be able to ban the public from purchasing things like pornography and firearms by stopping adults from completing legal transactions?

Payment processors are heavily regulated by govts in the jurisdictions they operate in. They're not operating in isolation, rather they act as choke points for policy enforcement.

Re: OnlyFans drops planned porn ban

#62

Post by whymauri » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 1:16 PM UTC

mothsonasloth wrote: post #26

When are we going to see a Medium or Substack for pornographic content? Even better an opensource LAMP or MEAN stack to host your own adult entertainment site?

Like written erotica? I think you can still get away with it on Patreon.

Re: OnlyFans drops planned porn ban

#63

Post by Jgrubb » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 1:16 PM UTC

63 wrote: post #46

I'm curious how much this may have impacted their users regardless. I imagine that a lot of people learned that relying on a single platform is dangerous and how important it is to diversify your online profile. I don't think people will trust Onlyfans anymore.

Network effects will always win, regardless of the trustworthiness of the platform.

Re: OnlyFans drops planned porn ban

#64

Post by digianarchist » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 1:17 PM UTC

zuppy wrote: post #54

doikor wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More likely "we managed to get a deal in place with our payment processor". The only reason why they were going to do this was their payment processor saying they would stop processing their payments.

mastercard denied saying this. what a clusterfu*k.

It wasn't MasterCard that was the problem rather their banking partners according to the FT.

Re: OnlyFans drops planned porn ban

#65

Post by paulgb » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 1:17 PM UTC

imglorp wrote: post #25

TheMagicHorsey wrote: post #9

It's extraordinary that payment processors don't have any regulations that force them to serve businesses in a neutral fashion. It's weird that they're allowed to play morality police with the Internet even though they have no formal governmental role as such. You'd think that once the government decides what is and isn't acceptable, the processors would follow that lead. But instead they go a different, more restric…

There is lobbying/regulatory/activist pressure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exodus_Cry

Exactly, I don't believe that payment processors want to play the role of gatekeepers (after all, they lose revenue for every customer they turn down). They probably just want to show that they can self-regulate to give Congress less of a reason to pass something like this[1].

I think people underestimate how much moral regulation in the US actually comes top-down under the guise of anti-trafficking law (remember SESTA/FOSTA and how it killed Craigslist personals?)

[1] https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/808/...

Re: OnlyFans drops planned porn ban

#66

Post by traveler01 » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 1:18 PM UTC

As a Gen-Z also recently graduated (less than 5 years), I can assure you, the fact these platforms are so big is because being graduated isn't worth anything these days. You are lucky or you are not.

Re: OnlyFans drops planned porn ban

#67

Post by zuppy » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 1:19 PM UTC

digianarchist wrote: post #64

zuppy wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

mastercard denied saying this. what a clusterfu*k.

It wasn't MasterCard that was the problem rather their banking partners according to the FT.

oh, ok. i was actually looking now for the source, I remember I read that mastercard delined forcing them,but there was nothing mentioned on that article about who actually requested this.

thanks for the information

edit: converting the url posted below this into archive link, to skip paywall: https://archive.is/Aqx8x

Re: OnlyFans drops planned porn ban

#68

Post by kiba » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 1:20 PM UTC

63 wrote: post #46

I'm curious how much this may have impacted their users regardless. I imagine that a lot of people learned that relying on a single platform is dangerous and how important it is to diversify your online profile. I don't think people will trust Onlyfans anymore.

One of the advice that a popular youtube said is to start a newsletter, which is how you own your audience, as opposed to being at the mercy of the youtube algorithm.

I thought this was a good advice to take for a long while before a youtuber mentioned it, but I wasn't a content creator.

I think it's a good idea to have your own website as well.

Re: OnlyFans drops planned porn ban

#69

Post by mzs » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 1:20 PM UTC

doikor wrote: post #43

flerchin wrote: post #18

aka "Our valuation is dropping like a rock"

More likely "we managed to get a deal in place with our payment processor". The only reason why they were going to do this was their payment processor saying they would stop processing their payments.

I hope the assurances secured means that OF will verify consent per MC reqs. [edit - seems they have: “We’re already fully compliant with the new Mastercard rules, so that had no bearing on the decision” ^^]

Also I suspect their biggest money makers were leaving, here's the first screen from a competitor's ^ 'join as a creator' page tailor-made from this:

>Earn 100% payouts from every new user from now until Oct 1, 2021!

>Sign up

>Leaving another platform? Not to worry! Our team is on hand to help you transfer your content to FanCentro!

^ https://fancentro.com/sell

^^ https://www.ft.com/content/7b8ce71c-a87a-440e-9f3d-58069ca04...

Re: OnlyFans drops planned porn ban

#70

Post by bluGill » Wed, Aug 25, 2021, 1:21 PM UTC

actually_a_dog wrote: post #15

LeftHandPath wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If so, I think that's a good thing. This should bring attention to payment processors' ability to effectively kill any type of business they don't agree with. I'm not sure what the solution is. Should banks be forced to behave as a common carrier? Or do we want private companies to be able to ban the public from purchasing things like pornography and firearms by stopping adults from completing legal transactions?

Let's turn the question around instead: why shouldn't banks be forced to behave as common carriers, at least when it comes to things like processing payments, providing checking accounts, and other such basic services? What good does it do to start a business, only to be told by the banking industry that you can't open a bank account for your perfectly legal business? I'm not sure if I'd include lending in "basic ser…

I'd include lending in basic services. However it would tie it to pure risk, along with don't let a customer get into too much debt. Pure risk means you only get to look at risk from an actuarial/numbers perspective, nothing more. Too much debt I'm not quite sure how to word into proper legalise but that needs to be done before we can actually do this - maybe just better bankruptcy laws so that risk goes up too high before the customer has too much debt?