I feel like if you’re going to write an article like this, you should at least engage with why it’s happening. Maybe deep down for some of the participants it’s a kind of moral thing, but mostly this is because payments for NSFW/porn stuff are dramatically more expensive. All of the “stuff” payment processors are doing is harder for NSFW/porn content, so that’s the main reason the processors want these companies to separate/cutoff that type of content.

EDIT: I’m kind of sensitive to getting downvotes on a comment. Do the downvoters think this is a high quality article giving a good amount of context for the upstream policy choices? Do the downvoters take me for supporting some kind of decision like this? Do you think I’m just wrong on my understanding of why these policies are made? I’d really encourage you to look into it. Google or chat something like “why do payment processors ban adult content”.

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pavel_lishin 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

If it was more expensive to process, why wouldn't they pass those costs on?

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Pay08 2 days ago | parent [-]

The increased costs are from the increased rate of chargebacks.

	▲	iamnothere 2 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		This is no longer as common as it used to be, and besides chargebacks (plus fees) get passed to the merchant.
	▲	mrguyorama 2 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Chargebacks don't cost a payment network anything. They keep the payment fee, and they charge you a large chargeback fee. They don't lose or spend any money out of their own pocket on it. If you have high fraud rates, they charge you a higher per payment fee. Our company is both a payment network and a merchant, depending on specific product lines and such. We spend a lot of time preventing credit card fraud on our merchant lines of business, and very little on our payment line of business, because chargebacks cost us nothing there. As designed. I can't believe people keep perpetuating this lie, that they very obviously haven't thought critically about. It's so frustrating. It's like everyone just repeating gormlessly that the sky is actually purple when they can just look at it.

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whynotmaybe 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

How is it more expensive?

Because it cost more to check that my CC wasn't stolen when I buy NSFW?

Or because there are more chargeback?

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maxk42 2 days ago | parent [-]

Chargebacks. "Oh, honey, I don't know how that got there. A hacker must've stolen my card! I'll call the bank immediately!" Worked in the adult industry and traditional e-commerce. It's a perennial problem.

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chimeracoder 2 days ago | parent [-]

> Chargebacks. "Oh, honey, I don't know how that got there. A hacker must've stolen my card! I'll call the bank immediately!" Worked in the adult industry and traditional e-commerce. It's a perennial problem.

As explained elsewhere, this is a problem for the merchants, not for the platforms. The platforms don't lose money on this, and may in fact profit off of it.

	▲	maxk42 15 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I managed an adult platform with 200 employees and $75 million in revenue and a dedicated Risk Analysis team. I think I know a thing or two about this, but thanks for the input.