Kickstarter is forced to ban adult content by payment processors • Hacker News Board

Re: Kickstarter is forced to ban adult content by payment processors

#241

Post by Tangurena2 » Wed, May 13, 2026, 8:55 PM UTC

mrguyorama wrote: post #180

mrsilencedogood wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For specifically sexually explicit stuff, it's because chargebacks are __significantly__ higher for these types of purchases. High enough that it messes with the credit and counterparty risk modeling that processors use. You can use your imagination to come up with many reasons these result in more chargebacks than normal purchases. Theoretically, they could just split out "explicit" vs "normal" risk categories, but…

>For specifically sexually explicit stuff, it's because chargebacks are __significantly__ higher for these types of purchases. This has always been a lie. I work preventing stolen credit cards from being used to buy gift cards. Payment networks do not at all care about cutting you off for having chargeback heavy flow. They demonstrate their value to customers by supporting those chargebacks, they make $20 for every s…

> They are trying to ban porn, toys, adult content in general.

They see all LGBT stuff as porn. Which is why the current moral panic in US/UK involves transgender people. Once trans people are outlawed, the rest of the rainbow will be rounded up and eliminated.

Re: Kickstarter is forced to ban adult content by payment processors

#242

Post by subscribed » Wed, May 13, 2026, 8:57 PM UTC

mrsilencedogood wrote: post #62

codedokode wrote: post #39

Why payment processors do it? Why people in America do not want to earn more money from commissions? Strong church lobby? Legal risks? I think its mostly religious groups who who are against adult content and sex, or there are other groups? Also this is why we should work to increase circulation of cryptocurrency. No stupid religious restrictions and stupid political sanctions. Also why PornHub and OnlyFans are immun…

For specifically sexually explicit stuff, it's because chargebacks are __significantly__ higher for these types of purchases. High enough that it messes with the credit and counterparty risk modeling that processors use. You can use your imagination to come up with many reasons these result in more chargebacks than normal purchases. Theoretically, they could just split out "explicit" vs "normal" risk categories, but…

So is this specifically for "MILFs/DILFs" or "buttocks"?

Because this is too specific for your understanding of the reasons to be true. They'd just blanket ban anything NSFW.

Re: Kickstarter is forced to ban adult content by payment processors

#243

Post by subscribed » Wed, May 13, 2026, 9:01 PM UTC

NoahZuniga wrote: post #207

Aurornis wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stripe (their payment process) will handle adult content payments. It puts the account into the high risk category due to the high rate of fraud in those categories. There's no actual evidence in the article that payment processors made them do it. They actually banned pornography long before this. They just updated the terms to clarify what counted as pornography. > Also this is why we should work to increase circul…

pornhub doesn't even accept payment via credit card. A while back they were kicked off due to there being too much CSAM.

And yet X can still accept payments even though it officially allows paid CSAM generation.

I am not sure if CSAM is the only reason for this group - notice they specifically listed MILF/DILF, that doesn't involve or imply CSAM in any way.

Re: Kickstarter is forced to ban adult content by payment processors

#244

Post by danudey » Wed, May 13, 2026, 9:10 PM UTC

Hackbraten wrote: post #212

criddell wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's like a 16 year old saying the auto insurance game is rigged because they are a very good driver but can't get cheap insurance. Maybe your rates are high because of the risk pool you are in.

But what kind of risk would that be? For adolescents and auto insurance, it makes sense to me (higher testosterone levels, less driving experience, not yet fully developed sense of risks/consequences, fewer spouses/children who depend on their livelihood etc. etc.) But why would fraud be more prevalent specifically in the adult content industry than the average over all the industries? Do criminals prefer working in…

Adult industry is digital content that can be "purchased" and then scraped before the chargeback goes through. Now the user has all the content that the site/model/whoever offers and didn't pay anything for it; they can then share it around, resell it, whatever.

It helps that a lot of people have no respect for the people producing the content; they'll happily consume it, but they refuse to acknowledge any work that goes into it or that people should be compensated for what they've created.

Re: Kickstarter is forced to ban adult content by payment processors

#245

Post by tavavex » Wed, May 13, 2026, 9:11 PM UTC

majorchord wrote: post #234

tavavex wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the common explanation I see when this topic comes up, but it always made zero sense to me. It frustrates me that people fail to realize the amount of purchaseable things that could qualify as 'explicit'. This is Kickstarter . Do we really think that someone crowdfunding a risque board game or comic is as likely to ask for a chargeback as some middle-aged man trying to hastily cancel a subscription on some po…

How do you define the difference between explicit content and porn?

When we're talking about the examples people bring up in this comment section to illustrate high chargeback rates ("Uncle Derek bought a $500 subscription in a stupor and his wife is about to find out"), the definition would be something like "live action video recordings of humans engaged in sexual activities". Explicit content is a superset of that, also including all the other examples I gave.

Note that I'm not saying we should ban that. I'm just saying that if the 'unbearably high chargeback' excuse had merit, they would've been precision-striking just those categories of sales, instead of opting to nuke everything that humans find sexual, regardless of medium, type of product/service, artistic merit, popularity and so on.

Re: Kickstarter is forced to ban adult content by payment processors

#246

Post by danudey » Wed, May 13, 2026, 9:13 PM UTC

tavavex wrote: post #137

mrsilencedogood wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For specifically sexually explicit stuff, it's because chargebacks are __significantly__ higher for these types of purchases. High enough that it messes with the credit and counterparty risk modeling that processors use. You can use your imagination to come up with many reasons these result in more chargebacks than normal purchases. Theoretically, they could just split out "explicit" vs "normal" risk categories, but…

This is the common explanation I see when this topic comes up, but it always made zero sense to me. It frustrates me that people fail to realize the amount of purchaseable things that could qualify as 'explicit'. This is Kickstarter . Do we really think that someone crowdfunding a risque board game or comic is as likely to ask for a chargeback as some middle-aged man trying to hastily cancel a subscription on some po…

Note that, under my reading of these rules, Baldur's Gate 3 would not be allowed on Kickstarter. Nor would Mass Effect, since it has "sex acts or implied sex acts" (depending on what they mean by "implied").

Re: Kickstarter is forced to ban adult content by payment processors

#247

Post by danudey » Wed, May 13, 2026, 9:15 PM UTC

Asraelite wrote: post #150

mrsilencedogood wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For specifically sexually explicit stuff, it's because chargebacks are __significantly__ higher for these types of purchases. High enough that it messes with the credit and counterparty risk modeling that processors use. You can use your imagination to come up with many reasons these result in more chargebacks than normal purchases. Theoretically, they could just split out "explicit" vs "normal" risk categories, but…

> You can use your imagination to come up with many reasons these result in more chargebacks than normal purchases. No I can't. Can you elaborate?

User uses a credit card, either a legitimate one or a stolen one, to buy access to a site. They download all the content that their purchase gives them access to. Then they (or the card's legitimate owner) initiate a chargeback. They "lose access to" the site but they already have everything that's there for free, and they add it to their library of other stolen content.

Re: Kickstarter is forced to ban adult content by payment processors

#248

Post by tavavex » Wed, May 13, 2026, 9:15 PM UTC

advisedwang wrote: post #65

functionmouse wrote: post #2

VISA is the government

What does this even mean? VISA is literally a publicly traded company. Compared to banks it barely even regulated.

Really? I thought the subtext is as obvious as it could've been. The point they're making is that a duopoly that controls the flow of money itself deciding to ban a whole market segment for ideological or profit reasons is no different from a government making that thing actually illegal, in terms of the effect it has on businesses and people.

Re: Kickstarter is forced to ban adult content by payment processors

#249

Post by MertsA » Wed, May 13, 2026, 9:20 PM UTC

miki123211 wrote: post #201

Aurornis wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do! It's called a high risk merchant account. Their payment processor would do it: https://stripe.com/ie/resources/more/high-risk-merchant-acco... > Also I think it is weird that when someone steals a bank card, they use it to buy adult games instead of buying an iPhone or MacBook and shipping it to the third world country. iPhone or MacBook purchases are expensive enough to trigger fraud detection reliably. A $…

That, and hormone-filled teenagers (ab)using their parents credit cards. This is called friendly fraud, which is also the reason why some gaming items are higher risk than one would naively expect.

Like when Runescape allowed you to purchase membership via a premium rate number. Lots of fraud going on back when that was a thing and a big part of why it's no longer a thing.

Re: Kickstarter is forced to ban adult content by payment processors

#250

Post by 48123563 » Wed, May 13, 2026, 9:21 PM UTC

nekusar wrote: post #23

schnebbau wrote: post #3

So who is pressuring the processors?

If you dig, this issue has been brewing for quite some time. Long story short, its the hard-right conservatives and/or Christians who demand everybody *else* follow their recidivist ethics. Exodus Cry - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exodus_Cry explicit christian thinktank Collective Shout - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_Shout not explicitly christian, but mirrors Exodus Cry almost verbatim Going down the r…

You have a clear history of anti-Christian sentiment on this site. Your comments repeatedly go beyond criticism of specific abuses and into broad hostility toward Christianity and Catholicism as such.