Valve have added a new rule to the Onboarding guide for game developers, noting that payment processors get a say in what stays on Steam.

Valve have added a new rule to the Onboarding guide for game developers, noting that payment processors get a say in what stays on Steam.

Newly added rule is:

Content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam’s payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers. In particular, certain kinds of adult only content.

Diff of the new terms https://github.com/SteamDatabase/SteamworksDocumentation/commit/fddd59b5395cc3c1c74574650dbf5784612d0521

:/ payment processors strike again (slippery slope etc)

  • ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.oneEnglish
    18·
    1 day ago

    The anti-porn religious lobby just destroyed the livelihoods of thousands of pornographers

    Beyond Pornhub, the anti-porn lobby is calling for all credit card companies to stop taking payments from all porn sites. Jessie Sage, sex worker and co-founder of the Peepshow Podcast, and I discussed the effects of this crisis on laborers—a subject she unpacks with sex workers on her newest episode. Jessie told me, “I believe that this will have ripple effects on our industry that extend far beyond Pornhub. Mindgeek [Pornhub’s parent company] is the largest company in the industry, and if Visa/Mastercard is willing to pull its financial services from them, the smaller companies are not far behind.”

    OnlyFans founder blames banks for ban on porn

    Stokely also said UK-based Metro Bank had closed OnlyFans’ corporate account in 2019 with short notice and highlighted how many sex workers, including OnlyFans creators, were struggling to access basic financial services.

    “JPMorgan Chase is particularly aggressive in closing accounts of sex workers or . . . any business that supports sex workers,” he said.

    Why is OnlyFans letting financial companies lure it away from porn?

    But the decision to remove OnlyFan’s most popular product was not a result of legal pressure, according to the company. The decision was made in order “to comply with the requests of our banking partners and payout providers,” an OnlyFans spokesperson wrote by email.

    The change marks a growing trend where financial services firms such as credit card and payment processors effectively decide what content is allowed or prohibited on internet platforms. For creators who depend on internet platforms for their income, especially adult performers, the sudden change represents a cautionary tale as the gatekeepers of the creator economy take shape.

    There’s the reason. Anti-porn/religious groups will lobby payment providers and bans to stop payments being made to adult content creators. Is there problematic adult content on Steam? For sure. However, there is also problematic political content on Steam which seems not affect banks/payment providers interest.

    We all should care cause adult content is the first to get censored. Then the censor bar will move to include other topics and more topics.