Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#1

Post by croes » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 9:27 AM UTC

Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down
pcgamer.com

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#2

Post by nottorp » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 10:34 AM UTC

Wrong title.

"Mastercard finds out there are a lot of gamers out there, makes an attempt at damage control." would be more appropriate.

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#3

Post by crinkly » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 10:44 AM UTC

A classic tale. Finger pointing between merchants, card providers and banks. All of them: it was someone else!

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#4

Post by 2Gkashmiri » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 10:48 AM UTC

[flagged]

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#5

Post by yreg » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 10:54 AM UTC

crinkly wrote: post #3

A classic tale. Finger pointing between merchants, card providers and banks. All of them: it was someone else!

In this story, Itch and Valve are 10x more trustworthy than the card processors.

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#6

Post by vintermann » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 10:55 AM UTC

crinkly wrote: post #3

A classic tale. Finger pointing between merchants, card providers and banks. All of them: it was someone else!

That also suggests they do not want to out exactly who pushed them to this, whether it was external or internal.

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#7

Post by phkahler » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 10:57 AM UTC

2Gkashmiri wrote: post #4

[flagged]

Tossing around "free speech" in this case is kinda silly. The first amendment only applies to the government, not some company.

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#8

Post by SSLy » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 11:02 AM UTC

phkahler wrote: post #7

2Gkashmiri wrote: post #4

[flagged]

Tossing around "free speech" in this case is kinda silly. The first amendment only applies to the government, not some company.

the concept is not limited to what the US constitution specifies.

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#9

Post by reactordev » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 11:05 AM UTC

phkahler wrote: post #7

2Gkashmiri wrote: post #4

[flagged]

Tossing around "free speech" in this case is kinda silly. The first amendment only applies to the government, not some company.

Incorrect, it applies to companies too as companies are citizens according to citizens united ruling over a decade ago.

Re: Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down

#10

Post by amiga386 » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 11:06 AM UTC

vintermann wrote: post #6

crinkly wrote: post #3

A classic tale. Finger pointing between merchants, card providers and banks. All of them: it was someone else!

That also suggests they do not want to out exactly who pushed them to this, whether it was external or internal.

But it seems fairly straightforward who it is.

If it was indeed Collective Shout's pressure campaign that led to Valve and itch.io being told by their payment processors to remove games, then this is how it went:

   Collective Shout -> Mastercard -> Mastercard's head of brand risk (or equivalent role) -> Mastercard's business partners -> Valve and itch.io

We know it was Mastercard who told the payment processors what to do, as the rule they cited to Valve says "in the sole discretion of the Corporation, may damage the goodwill of the Corporation" -- the Mastercard Corporation used its sole discretion to tell payment processors what to tell Valve and itch.io. The payment processors did not decide this for themselves.

Mob bosses order hits, wise guys carry them out. The mob boss has clean hands.

Keep the pressure on Mastercard.

We need to stop these side-channel attacks on democracy. If a government deems some media lawful, you shouldn't get to de-facto ban it by going after publicity-averse private companies that provide hosting, payment processing, etc. https://protectthestack.org/