2 ms·
Credit-card firms are becoming reluctant regulators of the web
- cratermoon 5y agoHonest question for free market True Believers. Isn't this the self-regulating neoliberal/libertarian ideal? That instead of government regulation, we have businesses making decisions as rational actors to maximize efficiency and utility? If consumers and sellers don't like the credit card companies determining what they can and can't transact, then they should just not use them. Go with PayPal or some other system that isn't constraining their choices in ways that they don't like.
- throwawaysea 5y agoI am a free market believer I suppose, and I view it differently. When companies have products and business models built on network effects, they face reduced competition because a newcomer cannot offer the same quality of product without a similarly sized network. This reduced competition distorts the situation away from being a competitive free market, which is why it deserves regulation. In such conditions where a product with network effects has a large number of users, the product should be treated more like a government service - that is, users should not be denied use that is strictly legal and constitutional. As an aside, PayPal, Stripe, Patreon, and others also enact their own controls, moderation, and censorship. That behavior isn’t limited to credit card companies alone. Digital payments seem basic enough that we need a government provided system alongside private options, and also regulations for the largest of players to be treated as utilities.