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Mastercard release a statement about game stores, payment processors and adult content

⁨296⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨tonytins@pawb.social⁩ to ⁨games@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/08/mastercard-release-a-statement-about-game-stores-payment-processors-and-adult-content/

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Comments

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  • backgroundcow@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

    MasterCard’s and Valve’s statements seems to point at Stripe and PayPal as the ones who folded to the pressure. They then cited MasterCard’s rules to back up their change in policy.

    MasterCard now clarifying that the payment processors are over-interpreting the rules and anything legal is ok seems a very good thing here. Valve should be able to go back to Stripe and PayPal with this and say: “Hey, you’ve misunderstood the rules you are quoting; MasterCard themselves say anything legal is ok, and that is the exact policy we’ve been using!”

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  • Nibodhika@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

    If this is true then I honestly hope Steam and Itch go “ok, then, PayPal and Stripe are banned from the store as payment forms until we can figure out a way of limiting content you can pay with them”. Honestly I don’t think enough people use either of those payments forms, and even if they do currently they almost assuredly have a card they can use instead, and are more likely to switch payment methods than to stop buying games.

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    • Arcane2077@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      IIRC Stripe is the main payment processor. If you’re paying with a visa or mastercard online, it’s usually via stripe. Hence, the immediate censorship.

      Paypal can go fuck itself and die

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      • Nibodhika@lemmy.world ⁨31⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

        Ah, if that’s the case then MC statement is kind of pointless, so it’s not them putting the pressure, but you still have to go through the people putting the pressure to get to them. I thought that if you put your card number on steam it had some more direct form of charging than going through stripe.

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  • BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    So Valve says the processors - such as Stripe and PayPal - pressed the issue based on pressure from MasterCard (and possibly Visa). MasterCard says they had nothing to do with it. Itch says that Stripe was directly responsible in their case with a blanket ban on anything generally sexy, but that Stripe blamed their banking partners.

    So Stripe, at least, is directly responsible but insists they are under pressure from banking partners. This means the pressure is coming from one or more actual banks. Since we don’t have names, we have to do some research to find out who Stripe works with. The possibilities I was able to dig up on a quick search include:

    • Citigroup
    • Wells Fargo
    • Barclays
    • Goldman Sachs
    • Evolve Bank & Trust
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    • tonytins@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I have a hunch this goes one step higher than the private banks.

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  • RBWells@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    By that standard, I ought not be able to use the card to buy booze (might give it to a minor or use for a Molotov Cocktail) a gun (obviously could use for crime) , and probably a million other things they let people buy with cards.

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  • darcmage@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    MC: It’s not us.

    Steam & Itch: It’s the payment processors.

    Gee, I wonder who people are going to believe.

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    • MolochAlter@lemmy.world ⁨45⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

      MC and Visa are not technically payment processors, that would be stuff like stripe or ayden.

      The problem is that cc companies have rules that put the onus of ensuring nothing illegal is purchased with their issued cards on the ones actually meditating the transaction, so it becomes a chilling effect because the intermediaries don’t want to risk burning a bridge with the largest cc networks in the world, and overcorrect as a result.

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    • JoMiran@lemmy.ml ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      They are both telling the truth, which is how the best lies work.

      Mastercard: “It’s all good as long as it it legal”.

      Religious zealots: “Games depict sex with children!!!”

      Steam/Itch: “Which games?”

      Zealots: “Yes”

      Mastercard: “Sex with children is illegal. Get rid of those games.”

      Steam/Itch: “Which games???”

      Mastercard: “That’s a you problem. Figure it out and get rid of them or lose the ability to process payments.”

      Steam/Itch: *pulls most NSFW games while they figure out “which games”.

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      • Passerby6497@lemmy.world ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Wouldn’t it be nice if the payment processors required more than being really annoying to get something classified as possibly illegal?

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      • lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Mastercard: “Sex with children is illegal. Get rid of those games.”

        Games depicting it aren’t. Cool mental theater, though.

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      • GeneralEmergency@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        “which games”

        The multitude of incest games that litter Steam’s new releases?

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      • Jeffool@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Or, maybe, it’s just MasterCard’s way of saying “It’s Visa”? (Not that I know this. It could well be a lie for all I know. But also, maybe it’s not.)

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    • Katana314@lemmy.world ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Thing is…I think both claims are correct.

      Mastercard and Visa are not the only middle-men; the only “payment processors” involved in making sales.

      Next time you check out at a cafe, look at the branding of the tablet/software the cashier is using. Chances are, it wasn’t developed by the cafe owners, or by MC/Visa. That’s a payment processor. There’s some big ones out there that can be hard to avoid.

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      • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Practically no one in the world who accepts payments for their business directly integrates with visa or Mastercard. It’s all 3rd party companies who integrate (because it’s fucking hard and tedious) and then resell it

        In almost all cases, any talk about payment processors, is them, not visa/Mastercard.

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      • commander@lemmy.world ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        I remember seeing a graphic that was about every layer of companies that are interacted with when you use a credit card. Must have been at least like 6 layers of companies each taking a fee from a company that took fees higher up the chain closer to the consumer

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      • darcmage@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        True. Collective shout targeted visa, mc, paypal and paysafe. I guess it’s possible the game storefronts acted due to concerns of one of them.

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      • Goodeye8@piefed.social ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        In online stores Visa and MC are the big ones. If we exclude China, Visa and MC make up 90% of all online purchases worldwide. For online stores they are the two players who matter. Losing one is a significant loss of revenue, losing both will kill the store.

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    • buddascrayon@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      It’s been pretty widely reported that it’s PayPal and Stripe(mostly Stripe) that have been the ones that were requiring them to remove the NSFW material.

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    • vodka@feddit.org ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      From what I understand it wasn’t actually mastercard and visa?

      Itch statements made it very clear the issue was PayPal and Stripe.

      Steam even disabled PayPal payments for a while, a couple days before the purge. While direct card payments with Visa/Mastercard still worked fine.

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      • eRac@lemmings.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Valve also clarified today that it was the processors, not the card management companies, that they talked to. The processors were pointing at MasterCard’s rules, but refusing to provide Valve with someone at MasterCard to talk to.

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      • TotalCourage007@lemmy.world ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Still requires them to find a solution, putting it on patreon won’t work forever. I think most game stores should find a way to adopt cryptocurrency.

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    • paraphrand@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Well, everyone discussing this seems to have been confused about it. Is it fucking PayPal and stripe or fucking Mastercard and visa?

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      • darcmage@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        We’ll probably never get the whole story. Itch’s update from yesterday points the finger at stripe, others could still be involved.

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      • satansbartender@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        It almost certainly wasnt the card brands forcing the issue. They outsource that stuff to payment processors and other middle men because it’s cheaper and gives them some legal shielding if someone buys something illegal with their cards

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    • lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Gee, I wonder who people are going to believe.

      Other payment processors? Why is this hard for you?

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  • WalnutLum@lemmy.ml ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    “Unlawful” based on what? American law?

    These are global payment companies, they can’t just have a “we don’t allow payment for illegal content” cause that varies by country (and by state even).

    What an absolutely nothing statement.

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    • lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      From the article

      So this seems like Mastercard are basically saying “it’s not us”.

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    • echodot@feddit.uk ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Exactly in the US I can buy an assault rifle. Something that would be a crime in most other countries.

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    • WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      We should demand mastercard shut down all payments to everyone, as their very business model clearly falls afoul of the laws of the People’s Republic of North Korea.

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      • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Now this is the kind of movement I can get behind.

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    • Atomic@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Just because you don’t understand their response, doesn’t mean it’s a nothing statement.

      “Unlawful”, based on the region that you and the vendor operate in. And yes, that does vary based on which region you and they are in. And yes, it can get very complicated. Welcome to the world of economics.

      In short. Vendors can be considered unlawful in your region, even if they don’t offer the specific illegal service or product in your region, but do in others.

      What MasterCard is saying here is. “If we’re not legally required to take any action. We won’t”

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    • Ajen@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      They’re obviously basing it on the local laws of the business and customer. That varies from each transaction to the next. They’re just saying that they don’t restrict anything that they aren’t legally required to restrict.

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      • WalnutLum@lemmy.ml ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        I don’t think that’s accurate because they asked Dlsite before them to restrict their content based on American Law. They tried to remove access to content from outside Japan that Visa was complaining about and Visa still told them to remove the content (I guess cause people were using VPNs) so they had to remove the ability to pay with visa and Mastercard entirely.

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    • rumba@lemmy.zip ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Publicly, they’re saying we don’t want to get sued for allowing the purchase of illegal content, We have no problem with legal content.

      That’s not to say that’s how they are phrasing it too the publishers.

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  • slazer2au@lemmy.world ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Instead of linking the actual statement, we have a 3 and a half paragraph “article”. Here is the actual statement from MC

    mastercard.com/…/clarifying-recent-headlines-on-g…

    Mastercard has not evaluated any game or required restrictions of any activity on game creator sites and platforms, contrary to media reports and allegations.

    Our payment network follows standards based on the rule of law. Put simply, we allow all lawful purchases on our network. At the same time, we require merchants to have appropriate controls to ensure Mastercard cards cannot be used for unlawful purchases, including illegal adult content.

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    • TheBat@lemmy.world ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      You forgot to add this:

      Media contact

      Seth Eisen

      seth.eisen@mastercard.com

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      • slazer2au@lemmy.world ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Good point, I also forgot the footer.

        About Mastercard

        Mastercard powers economies and empowers people in 200+ countries and territories worldwide. Together with our customers, we’re building a resilient economy where everyone can prosper. We support a wide range of digital payments choices, making transactions secure, simple, smart and accessible. Our technology and innovation, partnerships and networks combine to deliver a unique set of products and services that help people, businesses and governments realize their greatest potential.

        www.mastercard.com

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    • princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Yes, the statement is in the article, which gives background context.

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    • bouh@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      In fact this statement states that they ask their clients to litteraly do the job of justice. That’s quite scary.

      Ensuring a card cannot be used to buy illegal content.

      That means they can shut you down if they think you didn’t do enough, which is literally their whim.

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      • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Or if there is any possible ambiguity in the law. I’m thinking it’s possible this has something to do with the recent weakening of constitutional protections for adult content in the US, where censorship by states of somewhat arbitrarily “obscene” content can be deemed illegal. The quote in the article by Valve seems to reference the concept of offensiveness in Mastercard’s policies:

        Payment processors rejected this, and specifically cited Mastercard’s Rule 5.12.7 and risk to the Mastercard brand. See www.mastercard.us/content/…/mastercard-rules.pdf.

        the rule including the text:

        1. The sale of a product or service, including an image, which is patently offensive and lacks serious artistic value (such as, by way of example and not limitation, images of nonconsensual sexual behavior, sexual exploitation of a minor, nonconsensual mutilation of a person or body part, and bestiality), or any other material that the Corporation deems unacceptable to sell in connection with a Mark.

        So what I’m reading between the lines here is, there is now doubt among the lawyers of credit card companies or the lawyers of their middlemen that these games are for sure legal, and not in violation of obscenity laws that rely on hazy standards of offensiveness.

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    • umbrella@lemmy.ml ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      backtracking, nice.

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  • SynonymousStoat@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I do kind of wonder of any of these game devs could go after these payment processing companies for loss of income? I’m not a lawyer, but I’d definitely be looking into it if I was a Dev that has been effected by this.

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    • Newsteinleo@midwest.social ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Likely not, the devs don’t have an agreement of any kind with the processor.

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      • finitebanjo@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Valve, on the other hand, should be sueing if the Mastercard statement proves false and it was in fact their policies forcing the Steam and Itch io takedowns.

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      • GreenKnight23@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        correct. so they could sue itch, which does have an agreement with them. and itch can sue the processors.

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  • mohab@piefed.social ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Ima quote Serj on this: "La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la, lie, lie, lie 🎶"

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  • Endymion_Mallorn@kbin.melroy.org ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Good for them. Just stop judging the platforms, take the payments. You're making money no matter what.

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