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Agree with that, and fwiw I took the path of writing one of my senators. Here's what I wrote: The Honorable Maria Cantwell United States Senate 511 Hart Sena
by jjcm 1y ago
Agree with that, and fwiw I took the path of writing one of my senators. Here's what I wrote:
The Honorable Maria Cantwell
United States Senate
511 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Cantwell,
I am writing as your constituent to express my concern about recent actions by advocacy groups pressuring payment processors and card networks to restrict access to legal businesses based on content disagreements.
As a small business owner operating a social news platform, I am facing increasing challenges from organizations like Collective Shout, which are pressuring Visa, Mastercard, and payment providers to deplatform websites hosting legal adult content. While my platform contains less than 1% NSFW content, which I actively moderate to ensure compliance with all applicable laws, I now face the risk of losing payment processing services simply for hosting content that these groups find objectionable.
This creates an untenable situation for small businesses like mine. I diligently remove illegal content and maintain appropriate moderation standards, but being forced to moderate based on the subjective moral standards of third-party advocacy groups—particularly foreign organizations—undermines both business viability and democratic principles of free expression.
The financial infrastructure of our economy should not be weaponized to enforce the moral preferences of activist groups, especially when the targeted content is legal under U.S. law. Small businesses cannot afford to navigate an ever-changing landscape of subjective content standards imposed by unelected organizations operating outside our democratic processes.
I respectfully urge you to consider supporting S.401, the Fair Access to Banking Act, which would help protect small businesses from discriminatory practices by financial service providers. This legislation would ensure that legal businesses are not denied essential financial services based on political pressure campaigns or subjective content judgments.
Thank you for your time and consideration of this important issue affecting small businesses and free expression online.