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Against the censorship of adult content by payment processors

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Re: Against the censorship of adult content by payment processors

#131

Post by jfyi »

iknowSFR wrote: post #79
potbelly83 wrote: post #77

I think a lot of people are missing the point. Most likely what's happening here is that the issuers (not Visa/MC) see a large number of chargebacks/fraud for adult content sites and have determined that it's much easier if they don't accept transactions from these sites.

Sure but isn’t allowing those company to pick and choose what industries they service a dangerous precedent? They’ve monopolized the consumer credit markets and as such, can use that weight to dictate competition in consumer markets.

Their point is it isn't just a couple companies arbitrarily making these decisions. It is a vast network of banks and merchant services companies.

Ideally, you could take your business elsewhere. The problem is providers that handle these industries will expect a premium across all transactions and it would come off badly when customers see that large percentage added to each purchase.

So you have the decision of: your customers pay a premium or you don't carry adult material. If all your business is adult, it's an easy choice. You pay the premium.

This activist organization is pressing them until they are forced to make that decision based on a small amount of their hosted content. This is what I see as likely. Admittedly though, there are not enough details given to say for sure.

Re: Against the censorship of adult content by payment processors

#132

Post by Workaccount2 »

anal_reactor wrote: post #30
willprice89 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the market would punish Apple sufficiently enough for something like that and government intervention wouldn't be required... What about a small, local ISP? Should they be able to refuse to provide service? At what size can/should the government step in a force companies to do things?

> I think the market would punish Apple sufficiently enough for something like that and government intervention wouldn't be required... Ah yes. The invisible magic hand of free market that solves all problems. Except it doesn't. See Uber expanding its service where for a small fee you can avoid dealing with people from undesirable social class. Not exactly the same thing, but still the idea of free market promoting i…

>Ah yes. The invisible magic hand of free market that solves all problems. Except it doesn't. See Uber expanding its service where for a small fee you can avoid dealing with people from undesirable social class. Not exactly the same thing, but still the idea of free market promoting immoral solutions rather than eliminating them.

I think you are mistaking the market for the people. The market is a natural manifestation of what people want. If people want high social class drivers and are willing to pay for it...taking away the option is not going to make them not want those drivers.

This a myopia similar to the war on drugs. The government thought regulating the drug market (that is, total ban) would make people not want to do drugs. We all know how well that worked out.

The market is the messenger, don't shoot it.

Re: Against the censorship of adult content by payment processors

#134

Post by hellooooooo »

whatamidoingyo wrote: post #120

I spent months working on a dating website. Had Stripe configured, spent the whole time testing with it. Published the site, swapped Stripe to production, and boom, account was closed/banned. According to their own documentation, dating sites are indeed allowed, so long as there's no adult content. The site I built didn't allow adult content. I argued my case, provided the TOS as well as showed that I had features bu…

Could it run on lightspark?

Re: Against the censorship of adult content by payment processors

#135

Post by svachalek »

cesarb wrote: post #74
JoshTriplett wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I say again: > consider how much it limits the viability of an online business to not accept credit cards For the vast majority of online businesses, accepting exclusively crypto, or exclusively bank payments, would result in much less business. Orders of magnitude less business. They are not viable alternatives for the vast majority of purposes.

> For the vast majority of online businesses, accepting exclusively crypto, or exclusively bank payments, would result in much less business. Orders of magnitude less business. I would add a qualifier to your statement: for the vast majority of global online businesses. An online business serving a single country could make use of country-specific payment systems, which are often very popular. If a Brazil-only online…

I don't think the debate people are having is about Brazil.

Re: Against the censorship of adult content by payment processors

#136

Post by notjoemama »

duped wrote: post #115
dedicate wrote: post #25

Honestly, I think focusing on what is being censored is missing the point. Today it's adult content, which is an easy target. But what about tomorrow? What if they decide your political donation is 'problematic', or the indie news site you subscribe to is 'misinformation'? We're handing a kill switch for legal commerce to a handful of unelected execs.

> Today it's adult content, which is an easy target. Not even that easy of a target, because the crazy people in America want to call anything that acknowledges the existence of LGBTQ people or how they exist within greater society is "adult content" or "pornographic."

[flagged]

Re: Against the censorship of adult content by payment processors

#137

Post by unstatusthequo »

whatamidoingyo wrote: post #120

I spent months working on a dating website. Had Stripe configured, spent the whole time testing with it. Published the site, swapped Stripe to production, and boom, account was closed/banned. According to their own documentation, dating sites are indeed allowed, so long as there's no adult content. The site I built didn't allow adult content. I argued my case, provided the TOS as well as showed that I had features bu…

Why not Square? Why not crypto? I realize HN kinda hates crypto as a group, but it solves your situation here, does it not? I realize it’s another step for users who don’t already have it, but I guess you need to determine whether it would cause enough friction to not get signups.

Re: Against the censorship of adult content by payment processors

#139

Post by windward »

arghwhat wrote: post #107
windward wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It just needs the economic value of supporting this trade to outweigh the value they assign to control and influence.

Which we can conclude from the current situation is not the case.

The word 'needs' indicates a present necessity.

Re: Against the censorship of adult content by payment processors

#140

Post by PaulHoule »

unstatusthequo wrote: post #137
whatamidoingyo wrote: post #120

I spent months working on a dating website. Had Stripe configured, spent the whole time testing with it. Published the site, swapped Stripe to production, and boom, account was closed/banned. According to their own documentation, dating sites are indeed allowed, so long as there's no adult content. The site I built didn't allow adult content. I argued my case, provided the TOS as well as showed that I had features bu…

Why not Square? Why not crypto? I realize HN kinda hates crypto as a group, but it solves your situation here, does it not? I realize it’s another step for users who don’t already have it, but I guess you need to determine whether it would cause enough friction to not get signups.

Most crypto protocols are completely transparent so somebody can write down your wallet address and hassle people you trade crypto with. For instance if you want to turn your crypto into cash the transaction can be blocked there.
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