5 ms·

MasterCard and Visa will stop processing cards for Pornhub

49 points by A4ET8a8uTh0 6y ago

LatteLazy 6y ago
Title is wrong, visa have not responded to a request for comment.
- A4ET8a8uTh0 6y ago
  VISA's response is currently: "Given the allegations of illegal activity, Visa is suspending Pornhub's acceptance privileges pending the completion of our ongoing investigation. We are instructing the financial institutions who serve MindGeek to suspend processing of payments through the Visa network." Based on that, the title is still accurate.
  - LatteLazy 6y ago
    Ah, fair enough, I stand corrected!
chokeartist 6y ago
Maybe Pornhub will be motivated to take down revenge and child porn now.
aNoob7000 6y ago
This is my biggest fear with everything going towards digital payments. What's to stop the government from saying you can't buy porn, liquor, or video games? I know it sounds extreme but so many things are barely acceptable in society.
- nickff 6y ago
  It's not extreme at all, the US Federal Government has already started doing it.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Choke_Point https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Choke_Point
  - Melting_Harps 6y ago
    > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Choke_Point https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Choke_Point This was a critical part of my pitch of my fintech startup that utilized Bitcoin, my co-founder had 10k+ taken from her using Paypal and other various payment processors when we met. The thing is the scope is (intentionally?) so wide that even legitimate, legal and sanctioned businesses were caught up in this with little to no recourse. It goes even further because even those that eventually complied but were deemed 'difficult to deal with' had their business licenses delayed, had audits, and had insurance premiums skyrocket as a result of having gone through the process. We won our battle in the Industrial hemp side through the farm bill in 2018 that made it 50 state legal, so I exited my startup as that was my only goal all along; but if people only knew how hard it is to conduct a business in the US the State doesn't deem 'worthy' of financial services and payment processing they'd soon realize the 'pro-business' narrative that so pervasive in American Culture is actually BS. They're pro-big business/bank, as seen with the CARES act and the dragging of a new relief/stimulus: the plight of restaurants and small businesses that had to shutdown due to COVID, again, its clear to see that they couldn't give less of a damn about them and their situation and the suffering to their communities. This is one of the main reasons currency is too important issue to be left in the hands of ANY nation-state and bureaucrats. You can point to better examples all throughout Human History but its still plagued by the same fact that Humans cannot help but succumb to corruption when left to their own devices. > That already happened to political groups. Money is life and death these days. Sadly, it always is... and the closer you are to its creation the more machinations you can create to benefit you or your organization. It's the major pitfall of all Civilizations, and is a massive hindrance to the progress our Species could achieve of we had solved this matter already.
- friendlybus 6y ago
  That already happened to political groups. Money is life and death these days.
- iaHN 6y ago
  You mean like marijuana?
- wahern 6y ago
  > What's to stop the government from saying you can't buy porn, liquor, or video games? There are still plenty of dry jurisdictions in the United States: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dry_communities_by_U.S._state https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dry_communities_by_U.S...
Orochikaku 6y ago
I believe this is exactly what cryptocurrency was made to solve, to prevent legitimate businesses from losing a major revenue stream at the behest of a select few payment processing companies. It doesn’t help that the major players in payment processing seem to often work in lockstep, being banned on one platform often leads to being banned on another. While I recognise cryptocurrencies are far from a perfect solution, short of legislation, which is even less of a perfect solution, cryptocurrencies democratise payment in the digital sphere, free of institutionalised, arbitrary gate keepers.
- motoxpro 6y ago
  Crazy and sad to me that THIS is what motivates you to advocate for cryptocurrency. Underbanked? Sure. Government turmoil and inflation? Yep. Sex trafficing 13 year olds. Na, probably shouldn't be allowed to profit off of that. Take that stuff off and all good, you're back to taking payments. ezpz. If those "gatekeepers" are literally saving lives, I'm all for it.
  - woah 6y ago
    Your argument is technically true, but so misleading that I must conclude you are arguing in bad faith. Pornhub has far less illegal content than platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Illegal content is an issue all user generated content sites face, and these payment processors actions are the result of a puritanical anti-porn campaign.
    - nix23 6y ago
      >Pornhub has far less illegal content than platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. What has Visa and Mastercard todo with Facebook and Twitter? >and these payment processors actions are the result of a puritanical anti-porn campaign. You mean they don't support platforms that accept exploitation and illegal material?
      - hurxnid 6y ago
        They mean that there are other much larger sites like Facebook which does take payments which has literally, literally, 1 million times the number of cases of those illegal types of things getting reported on their site.
stevespang 6y ago
Are there not fast, easy providers that can charge your MC or VISA and forward the cryptocurrency payment to the website ? Like a proxy for payment ?
twirlock 6y ago
Hey look, three companies who don't matter as much as they think they do having an argument about porn. It's like a microcosm for the millennial generation.
anshumankmr 6y ago
Honestly, it's better this way. Fuck PornHub. They keep trying to whitewash themselves but they aren't regulating what's on their site. I remember hearing about an incident a few years ago involving a young couple where the boy uploaded a video of them having sex and the girl never knew it was recorded and uploaded. She ended up committing suicide. And then there's the problem of CP which many articles have explored in depth.
andrewzah 6y ago
Good. If they fail to regulate the porn that gets uploaded, then they deserve to have payment processors pull out. If you want porn, pay a more ethical publisher.
ksec 6y ago
We already have a thread here. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25378155 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25378155
scoot_718 6y ago
Anti-trust suits when?
mlonkibjuyhv 6y ago
Does this mean that Visa will go the way of the Betamax? I can't wait to get a slitcard for my new account in the spankbank.

49 points by A4ET8a8uTh0 6y ago

LatteLazy 6y ago

Title is wrong, visa have not responded to a request for comment.

A4ET8a8uTh0 6y ago
VISA's response is currently: "Given the allegations of illegal activity, Visa is suspending Pornhub's acceptance privileges pending the completion of our ongoing investigation. We are instructing the financial institutions who serve MindGeek to suspend processing of payments through the Visa network." Based on that, the title is still accurate.
- LatteLazy 6y ago
  Ah, fair enough, I stand corrected!

chokeartist 6y ago

Maybe Pornhub will be motivated to take down revenge and child porn now.

aNoob7000 6y ago

This is my biggest fear with everything going towards digital payments. What's to stop the government from saying you can't buy porn, liquor, or video games? I know it sounds extreme but so many things are barely acceptable in society.

nickff 6y ago
It's not extreme at all, the US Federal Government has already started doing it.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Choke_Point https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Choke_Point
- Melting_Harps 6y ago
  > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Choke_Point https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Choke_Point This was a critical part of my pitch of my fintech startup that utilized Bitcoin, my co-founder had 10k+ taken from her using Paypal and other various payment processors when we met. The thing is the scope is (intentionally?) so wide that even legitimate, legal and sanctioned businesses were caught up in this with little to no recourse. It goes even further because even those that eventually complied but were deemed 'difficult to deal with' had their business licenses delayed, had audits, and had insurance premiums skyrocket as a result of having gone through the process. We won our battle in the Industrial hemp side through the farm bill in 2018 that made it 50 state legal, so I exited my startup as that was my only goal all along; but if people only knew how hard it is to conduct a business in the US the State doesn't deem 'worthy' of financial services and payment processing they'd soon realize the 'pro-business' narrative that so pervasive in American Culture is actually BS. They're pro-big business/bank, as seen with the CARES act and the dragging of a new relief/stimulus: the plight of restaurants and small businesses that had to shutdown due to COVID, again, its clear to see that they couldn't give less of a damn about them and their situation and the suffering to their communities. This is one of the main reasons currency is too important issue to be left in the hands of ANY nation-state and bureaucrats. You can point to better examples all throughout Human History but its still plagued by the same fact that Humans cannot help but succumb to corruption when left to their own devices. > That already happened to political groups. Money is life and death these days. Sadly, it always is... and the closer you are to its creation the more machinations you can create to benefit you or your organization. It's the major pitfall of all Civilizations, and is a massive hindrance to the progress our Species could achieve of we had solved this matter already.
friendlybus 6y ago
That already happened to political groups. Money is life and death these days.
iaHN 6y ago
You mean like marijuana?
wahern 6y ago
> What's to stop the government from saying you can't buy porn, liquor, or video games? There are still plenty of dry jurisdictions in the United States: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dry_communities_by_U.S._state https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dry_communities_by_U.S...

Orochikaku 6y ago

I believe this is exactly what cryptocurrency was made to solve, to prevent legitimate businesses from losing a major revenue stream at the behest of a select few payment processing companies. It doesn’t help that the major players in payment processing seem to often work in lockstep, being banned on one platform often leads to being banned on another. While I recognise cryptocurrencies are far from a perfect solution, short of legislation, which is even less of a perfect solution, cryptocurrencies democratise payment in the digital sphere, free of institutionalised, arbitrary gate keepers.

motoxpro 6y ago
Crazy and sad to me that THIS is what motivates you to advocate for cryptocurrency. Underbanked? Sure. Government turmoil and inflation? Yep. Sex trafficing 13 year olds. Na, probably shouldn't be allowed to profit off of that. Take that stuff off and all good, you're back to taking payments. ezpz. If those "gatekeepers" are literally saving lives, I'm all for it.
- woah 6y ago
  Your argument is technically true, but so misleading that I must conclude you are arguing in bad faith. Pornhub has far less illegal content than platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Illegal content is an issue all user generated content sites face, and these payment processors actions are the result of a puritanical anti-porn campaign.
  - nix23 6y ago
    >Pornhub has far less illegal content than platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. What has Visa and Mastercard todo with Facebook and Twitter? >and these payment processors actions are the result of a puritanical anti-porn campaign. You mean they don't support platforms that accept exploitation and illegal material?
    - hurxnid 6y ago
      They mean that there are other much larger sites like Facebook which does take payments which has literally, literally, 1 million times the number of cases of those illegal types of things getting reported on their site.

stevespang 6y ago

Are there not fast, easy providers that can charge your MC or VISA and forward the cryptocurrency payment to the website ? Like a proxy for payment ?

twirlock 6y ago

Hey look, three companies who don't matter as much as they think they do having an argument about porn. It's like a microcosm for the millennial generation.

anshumankmr 6y ago

Honestly, it's better this way. Fuck PornHub. They keep trying to whitewash themselves but they aren't regulating what's on their site. I remember hearing about an incident a few years ago involving a young couple where the boy uploaded a video of them having sex and the girl never knew it was recorded and uploaded. She ended up committing suicide. And then there's the problem of CP which many articles have explored in depth.

andrewzah 6y ago

Good. If they fail to regulate the porn that gets uploaded, then they deserve to have payment processors pull out. If you want porn, pay a more ethical publisher.

ksec 6y ago

We already have a thread here. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25378155 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25378155

scoot_718 6y ago

Anti-trust suits when?

mlonkibjuyhv 6y ago

Does this mean that Visa will go the way of the Betamax? I can't wait to get a slitcard for my new account in the spankbank.