The bitter truth is that the tech world's libertarian allergy to collective action is exactly why stuff like this keeps happening.

Predictably, we get another round of "free speech on the internet is sacred!" polemics. Hate to break it to HN, but Visa and MasterCard aren't reading Hacker News, and they don't care about constitutional takes or appeals to values or consistency. Legal arguments won't do squat here. There is one way to reverse this and it's leverage and pressure, period.

If you want to fix this, you actually have to organize and go after the payment processors, because it's not going to be solved by writing essays in the comments or waiting for Steam to suddenly develop a spine. That means collective action, campaigns, actual activism. Exactly the stuff that makes tech people itchy and nervous.

It's the same reason tech unions never get traction. Everyone wants to be a cowboy and nobody wants to be part of a posse. If you're serious about reversing this kind of censorship, you'll have to do the one thing that feels worse: banding together, working as a group, and aiming your outrage at the folks actually making the calls.

Or keep writing little op-ed comments and maintain the losing streak, because Visa and MasterCard will keep steamrolling as long as nobody pushes back.

Sorry, but that's the game. Arguing that the rules aren't fair or trying to play out the same losing tactic isn't a winning strategy. Plan an actual demonstration. Visa and MasterCard conveniently have offices in SF and NYC. All it takes is working together.

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phendrenad2 7 days ago | parent | next [-]

Protesting only works when the media is on your side. I doubt the media would take your side on this one.

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johnnyanmac 7 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

>If you want to fix this, you actually have to organize and go after the payment processors, because it's not going to be solved by writing essays in the comments or waiting for Steam to suddenly develop a spine.

Okay. If you have any wisdom or ideas, I'd love to hear them. But as is, this comment is about as effective as mine on fighting Visa/Mastercard. "Just come together and yell at Steam!"

I'm not opposed to activism, I'm ignorant of it. The big issue of the internet is that we are all scattered very wide and that makes it harder to collect ourselvves under one goal. And as of now, I'm a laid off tech worker (who doesn't live in SF) who has no real capital to contribute to such a cause. I feel powerless.

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kelseyfrog 7 days ago | parent [-]

I don't want to sound patronizing, but how would you break the task of forming an activist group down into manageable chunks?

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johnnyanmac 7 days ago | parent [-]

That's what I was essentially asking. I'd want to start with small actions that feel realistic. I know it's not gonna just pop up overnight, so more reason to break it down.

If none of us know, then the next alternative is "can we point to any existing organizations to throw support at"? Or at the very least, an adjacent organization who can tell us steps to take?

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kelseyfrog 7 days ago | parent [-]

It's something anyone can teach themselves.

The basic sequence is simple:

Set up a Discord. Market it to attract a handful of early adopters. Run a book club using Organizing for Social Change[1] or Beautiful Trouble[2]. Along the way, you build shared language and alignment. People start to get a feel for tactics: collective letter campaigns, pressure targeting, framing, etc.

By the time you wrap the first book, you’ll have a core group with a working vocabulary and some trust. You’ll know how to set up a continuous recruitment and onboarding loop. You’ll be ready for a second round of action. For example, something sharper, louder, more public-facing. From there, it's just iteration after iteration.

The most important seed is a vision holder, someone whose primary job is building solid relationships and gradually offloading the core functions: facilitation, comms, outreach, tech, and education. Don't worry. You don't need money and you don’t need credentials. You need consistency above all, social fluency, emotional and logistical endurance, and a bit of luck.

Trust me when I say it's not easy, but the overhead is basically zero. The only real cost is showing up (again and again and again).

1. https://www.amazon.com/Organizing-Social-Change-Bobo-Kendall...

2. https://orbooks.mybigcommerce.com/beautiful-trouble-paperbac...

	▲	johnnyanmac 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		>The only real cost is showing up (again and again and again). If people could show up once on thr right day, we woildnt be in such a situation. Persistence is key, but I think we can both recognize how flaky modern society is. These are good steps, but this is definitely something that should have started in 2019/2020, not 2025. I just hope it's not too late.

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beeflet 7 days ago | parent | prev [-]

The libertarian solution has been to use cryptocurrency for payments. The problem is that only libertarians want to use cryptocurrency, and most people don't care.