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Then why the weak sauce denial from Mastercard? They could have denied much more than they did, and had every incentive to do so, but chose not to rule out all

Then why the weak sauce denial from Mastercard? They could have denied much more than they did, and had every incentive to do so, but chose not to rule out allowing anyone acting on their behalf enforcing rules that they wrote, and chose not to deny taking any action in response to social media campaigns they were certainly aware of and were explicitly named in. They offered no explanation as to why they had rules on their books that, according to their statement, they have no business enforcing. If the crux of the issue is that everyone has arranged a system where nobody has to take responsibility for anything, none of what you’ve said absolves Mastercard (or Visa) of any guilt.

dragontamer 1y ago
> Then why the weak sauce denial from Mastercard? https://www.mastercard.com/us/en/news-and-trends/press/2025/august/clarifying-recent-headlines-on-gaming-content.html https://www.mastercard.com/us/en/news-and-trends/press/2025/... > Mastercard has not evaluated any game or required restrictions of any activity on game creator sites and platforms, contrary to media reports and allegations. This seems like a rather strong refutation of the discussion. +----------- > If the crux of the issue is that everyone has arranged a system where nobody has to take responsibility for anything, none of what you’ve said absolves Mastercard (or Visa) of any guilt. Stripe has literally been saying no porn on their network since the freaking start of this controversy with Itch.io.
- YurgenJurgensen 1y ago
  It’s really not. They’re saying they didn’t do it themselves, but aren’t ruling out it being done by proxy, which is exactly what Valve are saying happened. Actually, it’s a triple weasel, since they also didn’t evaluate any games, they went off unverified 3rd party reports, and aren’t targeting ‘game creator’ sites, but game distribution sites. It could be a potential quadruple weasel, since they could have not ‘required’ any restrictions, but presented such onerous alternatives that it was a de-facto requirement that still fell short of the strictest definition of the word. And yet there is still porn on Steam, so clearly this is more than just Stripe.
  - dragontamer 1y ago
    Steam is on the record that Mastercard literally never interacted with Steam on this entire controversy. The entire discussion is between Steam and it's payment processors. And Steam, for whatever reason, hasn't publicly shamed (or discussed) who those payment processors are who were pushing these rules. ------- For now, we can rest assured that Itch.io case is being well discussed. We see it is Stripe and Paypal for Itch.io and unless conflicting news comes out, I'll assume the same for Steam.
    - YurgenJurgensen 1y ago
      That is irrelevant. The payment processors are enforcing Mastercard’s rules, and explicitly state as much. Mastercard don’t need to ‘interact’ with anyone if they have intermediaries willing to do so on their behalf. Mastercard’s own rule 5.12.7 /is/ conflicting news. It states that they have sole discretion, so there is little chance of any partner invoking it against Mastercard’s wishes. Just in a non-interactive way that only ends up with a few turbulent priests getting put to the sword.
      - dragontamer 1y ago
        Then why can I buy porn with my MasterCard right now? Answer: because the company I buy Porn from uses CCBill, not Stripe. You know, like what the article says Itch.io is looking into. There are specific payment processors for pornography. This is accepted because everyone knows that Porn gets more chargebacks (Hubands often have to chargebacks and pretend they didn't buy porn when their Wives find the charge). So there's a large degree of customer fraud in pornographic purchases. ------- Like Steam, Mastercard, Itch.io and even stripe themselves are pointing out: the problem is solidly the payment processor. Or Stripe in this specific Itch.io case. Done. Now when another Manga / Doujin Library gets banned for too much porn on behest of MasterCard, that will be the time to complain. But for now, stand down. This issue is becoming a boy cried wolf like overreaction. Especially as the facts are finally coming in.
        YurgenJurgensen 1y ago

dragontamer 1y ago

> Then why the weak sauce denial from Mastercard? https://www.mastercard.com/us/en/news-and-trends/press/2025/august/clarifying-recent-headlines-on-gaming-content.html https://www.mastercard.com/us/en/news-and-trends/press/2025/... > Mastercard has not evaluated any game or required restrictions of any activity on game creator sites and platforms, contrary to media reports and allegations. This seems like a rather strong refutation of the discussion. +----------- > If the crux of the issue is that everyone has arranged a system where nobody has to take responsibility for anything, none of what you’ve said absolves Mastercard (or Visa) of any guilt. Stripe has literally been saying no porn on their network since the freaking start of this controversy with Itch.io.

YurgenJurgensen 1y ago
It’s really not. They’re saying they didn’t do it themselves, but aren’t ruling out it being done by proxy, which is exactly what Valve are saying happened. Actually, it’s a triple weasel, since they also didn’t evaluate any games, they went off unverified 3rd party reports, and aren’t targeting ‘game creator’ sites, but game distribution sites. It could be a potential quadruple weasel, since they could have not ‘required’ any restrictions, but presented such onerous alternatives that it was a de-facto requirement that still fell short of the strictest definition of the word. And yet there is still porn on Steam, so clearly this is more than just Stripe.
- dragontamer 1y ago
  Steam is on the record that Mastercard literally never interacted with Steam on this entire controversy. The entire discussion is between Steam and it's payment processors. And Steam, for whatever reason, hasn't publicly shamed (or discussed) who those payment processors are who were pushing these rules. ------- For now, we can rest assured that Itch.io case is being well discussed. We see it is Stripe and Paypal for Itch.io and unless conflicting news comes out, I'll assume the same for Steam.
  - YurgenJurgensen 1y ago
    That is irrelevant. The payment processors are enforcing Mastercard’s rules, and explicitly state as much. Mastercard don’t need to ‘interact’ with anyone if they have intermediaries willing to do so on their behalf. Mastercard’s own rule 5.12.7 /is/ conflicting news. It states that they have sole discretion, so there is little chance of any partner invoking it against Mastercard’s wishes. Just in a non-interactive way that only ends up with a few turbulent priests getting put to the sword.
    - dragontamer 1y ago
      Then why can I buy porn with my MasterCard right now? Answer: because the company I buy Porn from uses CCBill, not Stripe. You know, like what the article says Itch.io is looking into. There are specific payment processors for pornography. This is accepted because everyone knows that Porn gets more chargebacks (Hubands often have to chargebacks and pretend they didn't buy porn when their Wives find the charge). So there's a large degree of customer fraud in pornographic purchases. ------- Like Steam, Mastercard, Itch.io and even stripe themselves are pointing out: the problem is solidly the payment processor. Or Stripe in this specific Itch.io case. Done. Now when another Manga / Doujin Library gets banned for too much porn on behest of MasterCard, that will be the time to complain. But for now, stand down. This issue is becoming a boy cried wolf like overreaction. Especially as the facts are finally coming in.
      - YurgenJurgensen 1y ago