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[Neverborn]

It's always going to be a debate, and it's become more of one lately.

Without getting into political discussions, there's a growing group of people (who are not specifically aligned with any political group, technically) who are attempting to police online content they find unacceptable. Called "Antis", they started in the anime community harassing Japanese artists for drawing stuff they declared they weren't allowed to draw, and are slowly moving out from there. They can be traced back to a few Discord groups where people work together to "police" Twitter et all, often with mass reporting and the like, but the mindset has spread out especially with the zoomers.

I personally am not a huge fan of some of the younger content. I usually ignore that part of it or just skip it outright. But I can just keep going to the next story thread.

More importantly, I'm a fan of "magic" or hypnosis in my ENF content (and elsewhere) -- stuff like the Naked Penny comic, or Freewill 504, or our own "Suggestion Box" or "The New Smartwatch."

It's become increasingly hard to get some of this content online anymore, becuase Mastercard has declared unilaterally that it's verboten and the sites like Patreon, Amazon, even Pixiv Fanbox or DLSite, are being forced to obey.

We're 1 or 2 moral panics away from people declaring ENF content to be "non consent, which means rape, content" and demanding every online site -- Patreon, Kindle, forums, etc -- to remove ENF content or be removed. Heck, Patreon literally banned Non-Consent in NSFW content, requiring "active affirmative consent" in EROTIC STORIES starting in April of this year because Mastercard changed the rules on them.

This authoritarianism -- "I don't want to see this so no one should be able to" -- is a sickness that will destroy the Internet if we don't nip it in the bud.

I have heard that about the payment processors, that they are the reason for content crackdown and removal from Patreon and other sites. But I wish someone could explain to me why they have such influence? Is it somehow not possible to move to another payment processor or for a company as large as Patreon to do the payment processing themselves? I understand they wouldn't be able to use those specific credit cards, but there are other ways.

[KiTA]

I have heard that about the payment processors, that they are the reason for content crackdown and removal from Patreon and other sites. But I wish someone could explain to me why they have such influence? Is it somehow not possible to move to another payment processor or for a company as large as Patreon to do the payment processing themselves? I understand they wouldn't be able to use those specific credit cards, but there are other ways.

A guy who runs some internet celebrity gossip blog did a pair of columns about it a few years ago explaining the problem, as well as outlining fixes:
https://madattheinternet.com/2021/04/07 ... works-are/
https://madattheinternet.com/2021/07/08 ... -internet/

But the long and short of it is:

• There are only 4 payment networks -- Visa, MC, AmEx, Discover

• Of those, only 2 matter -- Visa, MC

• Payment Processors have to work with those 4 -- There are only a few of these, and Stripe is the only one that matters

• Companies have to work with the payment processors

• Users have to work with the companies.

Anyone higher up in this "chain" can implement rules and everyone below them has to obey them. If MasterCard says "no, you aren't allowed to process payments if you do business with X person, or Y content" then the Payment Processor has to immediately implement the same rule, or Mastercard will cut them off, and they will be out of business overnight. Rules the Payment Processor implements -- either being forced to by others, or deciding to do so themselves -- the companies have to implement. And thus the companies have to censor their users to match the above.

Two additional complications arise.

• Mastercard decided about 20 years ago that they had the right (and duty) to decide who gets to do business online and for what reason. This includes a fairly insane, draconian ruleset about what is acceptable erotic content, amongst many other things.

• The Patriot Act, in the segment that was meant to cut off Terrorists from using banking services, includes the phrasing "Terrorism or any other objectionable services." This gives Mastercard the legal right to cut off anyone from doing business online if they object to them for any reason.

There's a lot more to it than that, of course, but that's the big thing. There are only 2 (4) ways banks can transfer money. There are only a few ways companies can take payments. And if anyone in this little spider-web of nepotism and corruption makes a demand, everyone else has to obey. And Mastercard is ran by prudes who think they have the right to decide where you spend your money and how.

[Neverborn]

I have heard that about the payment processors, that they are the reason for content crackdown and removal from Patreon and other sites. But I wish someone could explain to me why they have such influence? Is it somehow not possible to move to another payment processor or for a company as large as Patreon to do the payment processing themselves? I understand they wouldn't be able to use those specific credit cards, but there are other ways.

A guy who runs some internet celebrity gossip blog did a pair of columns about it a few years ago explaining the problem, as well as outlining fixes:
https://madattheinternet.com/2021/04/07 ... works-are/
https://madattheinternet.com/2021/07/08 ... -internet/

But the long and short of it is:

• There are only 4 payment networks -- Visa, MC, AmEx, Discover

• Of those, only 2 matter -- Visa, MC

• Payment Processors have to work with those 4 -- There are only a few of these, and Stripe is the only one that matters

• Companies have to work with the payment processors

• Users have to work with the companies.

Anyone higher up in this "chain" can implement rules and everyone below them has to obey them. If MasterCard says "no, you aren't allowed to process payments if you do business with X person, or Y content" then the Payment Processor has to immediately implement the same rule, or Mastercard will cut them off, and they will be out of business overnight. Rules the Payment Processor implements -- either being forced to by others, or deciding to do so themselves -- the companies have to implement. And thus the companies have to censor their users to match the above.

Two additional complications arise.

• Mastercard decided about 20 years ago that they had the right (and duty) to decide who gets to do business online and for what reason. This includes a fairly insane, draconian ruleset about what is acceptable erotic content, amongst many other things.

• The Patriot Act, in the segment that was meant to cut off Terrorists from using banking services, includes the phrasing "Terrorism or any other objectionable services." This gives Mastercard the legal right to cut off anyone from doing business online if they object to them for any reason.

There's a lot more to it than that, of course, but that's the big thing. There are only 2 (4) ways banks can transfer money. There are only a few ways companies can take payments. And if anyone in this little spider-web of nepotism and corruption makes a demand, everyone else has to obey. And Mastercard is ran by prudes who think they have the right to decide where you spend your money and how.

Very informative, thank you KiTA!