Mastercard and Visa, who together make 90% of all payment processing outside of China, have a history of using their positions of power in the global economy to censor minorities. Recently, the two have redoubled their efforts to censor adult content and demonize adult content creators, imposing arbitrary and unfair restrictions on services that host adult content.
Recently, both Steam and Itch.io (the most common providers by far of video games, as well as other digital content) have come under fire from Mastercard, who has threatened to stop providing service unless the platforms strictly censor adult content. Demands from Mastercard were apparently immediate and unyielding, with Itch.io forcibly "deindexing" (hiding but not removing) all adult content without warning, stating, "The situation developed rapidly, and we had to act urgently to protect the platform’s core payment infrastructure. Unfortunately, this meant it was not realistic to provide creators with advance notice before making this change." Supposedly, several adult creators have had their content removed from the platform entirely without warning. There are also rumors that even some non-adult content has been taken down because it contained LGBT+ content.
These specific attacks were largely incited by an organization called Collective Shout, who wrote an open letter to several prominent payment processors about games with certain kinds of adult content, asking them to "demonstrate corporate social responsibility" by "immediately ceas[ing] processing payments on Steam and Itch.io and any other platforms hosting similar games", citing a singular example of a game to demonstrate the supposed issue. For reference, steam alone had published over 5,200 adult titles as of 2024. Collective Shout claims to have "discovered hundreds of other games featuring rape, incest and child sexual abuse" though they do not cite any of them, claiming that their descriptions would be "distressing for us to make public" (though they seemed fine with posting a very explicit description of their one example).
Patreon, the largest online subscription payment service for content creators, has also been targeted by payment processors multiple times with pressures to restrict adult content.
The ACLU has written a rather large and comprehensive complaint to the FTC regarding Mastercard, available here: https://www.aclu.org/documents/federal-trade-commission-complaint-mastercard-inc. It includes a lot of supporting context and additional information on the topic.
First off, here's a petition you should sign: https://action.aclu.org/petition/mastercard-sex-work-work-end-your-unjust-policy.
(The ACLU is an U.S.-based orginzation, but I don't know if you have to live in the U.S. to sign it.)
That is the least you can do. If you have the spoons, I ask you to please look into more ways to make a difference. Here are some:
Note: you will likely be asked for a card number or an account number when calling these numbers. Have any relevant numbers at the ready. There should still be ways to get in contact with someone without a card/account number, but you'll probably have to jump through more hoops and may not be taken as seriously.
For Mastercard:
For Visa:
There is a template script for Mastercard at the bottom of this page.
If you think this won't accomplish anything except annoying them, you're mostly right. The goal is to be as insufferable as possible so we cannot be ignored. That being said, don't shout at anyone over the phone or be a smartass. Coming off as an asshole does not help advance our cause. Be mature and calm, because if you are someone who... pays for... basically anything, then you are a paying customer with valid concerns about unethical censorship.
If you can't or don't want to make phone calls but have access to a printer and postage, you can also write letters. Here are some addresses you could try:
For Mastercard:
For Visa
You can also send emails, but don't expect this to accomplish much. They are much easier to ignore.
There are other ways to help, too. I made this page, for example. You can help by sharing it, along with other resources on the topic. You can help by telling others about the situation and urging them to take action. Organize and participate in boycotts. Organize and participate in protests. Convince not just the companies themselves, but their key shareholders too. There are many ways to help, and any of them are appreciated.
Remind them that they publicly claim to support equality and inclusion of minorities. Remind them that their actions are in direct violation of their supposed core principles. Is it worth compromising your foundational values merely to appease shareholders?
For Mastercard (from https://www.mastercard.com/global/en/vision/who-we-are/community-and-belonging.html):
For Mastercard (from https://www.mastercard.com/us/en/for-the-world/corporate-impact.html):
For Mastercard (from https://www.mastercard.com/us/en/for-the-world/about-us/mastercard-human-rights-statement.html):
For Visa (from https://corporate.visa.com/en/about-visa.html):
There are plenty of other relevant snippets across their websites and documents. Feel free to look for more. The more leverage we have, the better.
Here's a template for a script you can use when calling Mastercard (based on the one posted here: https://bsky.app/profile/wysticlipse.art/post/3luolzf6fnk2s)
Hello, my name is [your name] and I am calling as a concerned citizen and customer.
I want to express my serious concern about Mastercard’s recent engagement in financial censorship - specifically, its recent refusal to process payments for completely legal platforms and creators, and its pressure on these platforms to globally take down content which is completely legal. The vague nature of these restrictions have affected thousands of games to which no layperson would have any objection to, simply because they are labeled as "adult content".
This kind of censorship does not protect children. Those who are intent on accessing harmful content will always find ways, regardless of payment systems. But, what these policies actually do is punish adult creators who are operating fully within the law, and even some non-adult creators who just happen to be transgender or gay and get unfairly labeled as obscene by individuals with regressive views, pushing them further into the margins where they are more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
Many of these creators come from already marginalized communities. By cutting off their access to financial tools, you’re not stopping harm, you’re creating more of it. Mastercard claims to be a proponent of equality and fairness, of being inclusive of marginalized people, of empowering everyone, everywhere to achieve their goals. Please put some meaning behind those words — you have the power to help millions of people, many of whom have no other legal options to turn to, but instead you are pushing them further down.
I urge Mastercard to reconsider these policies. Support legal, ethical platforms instead of trying to appease shareholders or control speech through financial gatekeeping. It is not Mastercard’s business to interfere in what people choose to purchase online.
Thank you for your time.