How the new Mastercard rules will affect the adult content industry, sex workers

Mastercard’s new regulations for platforms offering adult content, which took effect on October 15, sparked a row with sex workers, adult content creators and the platforms that host them, accusing them of undermining their right to speak out and try to steal their livelihood.

While Mastercard argues the new policy would help prevent child sexual abuse and the downloading of other non-consensual content, adult content creators and activists say the rules will not only affect the livelihoods of children. sex workers, but are also unrealistic in nature.

What are the new regulations?

The payments and tech company in April this year via a blog post announced that under its new “specialty merchant” regulations, creators of adult content and streaming platforms will be required to follow a strict documentation and moderation process.

In the blog post, John Verdeschi, senior vice president of customer engagement and performance at Mastercard, said that given the “high risk” nature of the adult content industry, he was imperative to maintain “strong content control measures and clear, unambiguous and documented consent”. in place.

“You might ask, ‘Why now? Over the past few years, the ability to download content from the Internet has become easier than ever. All anyone needs is a smartphone and a Wi-Fi connection, ”he argued, defending his company’s new policy.

Under the new regulations, banks that connect merchants to the Mastercard network will be required to certify that the adult content seller has effective controls in place to monitor, block and, if necessary, remove illegal content.

Banks will also need to ensure that adult websites document the age and verify the identity of people in uploaded photos and videos as well as the content downloader.

Simply put, content creators, including sex workers, downloaders, and the download platform, could only benefit from Mastercard’s services if they had the proper documentation regarding their consent to participate in the film, show cameras or take pictures, have them distributed and have them available for download.

Read also : What the RBI ban on Mastercard means for the future

Mastercard also wants banks working with it to make sure that the platform’s moderators review content before posting, and put in place a “complaint resolution process that deals with illegal or non-consensual content within seven days. working days “.

Banks should also ensure that platforms remove adult photos and videos if someone on them objects.

Reason for payment

The regulations follow Mastercard, Visa and Discover blocking their card use to access Pornhub last year, following allegations of content related to sex trafficking (including child abuse and child abuse). rape) broadcast on the platform.

Responding to the ban, Pornhub in a statement called it “exceptionally disgusting,” particularly when the website recently announced measures to “protect images from abuse, non-consensual activity and underage models on the web. site, including a ban on downloading unverified users. Equipment”.

Despite its suspicion of “illegal activity” related to sexual content on its network, Mastercard is ironically a branded card for Cabelas, a brand selling assault weapons.

Sex workers cry foul

Sex workers and activists decried Mastercard’s new regulations and called for the company to take a step back.

Activists say the new policy is an “attack on free speech” and that it would be extremely difficult for sex workers to make a living on online platforms.

In a commentary in American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Lala B Holston-Zannell, campaign manager for trans justice, wrote that the policy “makes it harder for sex workers to do business online and more vulnerable sex, especially those who are trans women of Color. “

She says that, seen in practice, the new requirement is quite late to follow, if not impossible. Giving the example of the OnlyFans social networking platform, she said the website has one million content creators. So, if each of them uploaded one video per day, under Mastercard’s new policy, the website would have to review each video before posting.

“Pre-publication review on this scale is nearly impossible and would likely be riddled with errors given the speed at which online platforms operate. This policy will make it much more difficult for platforms to host adult content, which will destabilize the websites that sex workers use for a living, ”she writes.

To voice their objection to the policy, around 1,500 sex workers, sex educators and other stakeholders signed a letter to Mastercard in September demanding that the rules be withdrawn.

“Payment processors should not dictate platform content moderation policies. Mastercard’s proposal will lead to more violence and discrimination against vulnerable people, not less, ”said Evan Greer, director of Fight for the Future in a statement.

“If they go ahead with this proposal and refuse to even stop to listen to more stakeholders, they’re actually saying acceptance doesn’t matter to them. They throw LGBTQ + communities, human rights and marginalized people under the bus. Full stop, ”Greer said in the statement.

Not just queer sex workers, Greer said the new policy will also affect all creators of queer content, including comic book artists, game developers, sex educators and academics.

“All of society suffers from restrictions on consensual sexuality and speech, increased surveillance and misdirection of resources that should help the most vulnerable,” said Greer.

Stating that everyone deserves access to financial services, Holston-Zannell said financial discrimination and laws that stigmatize or criminalize sex work will not only harm the safety and well-being of black trans women, but will also expose them to the dangers of mass incarceration, from the racist police as well. restrict their freedom of expression and invade their privacy.

“If Mastercard is a true supporter of LGBTQ rights, as it claims on its Pride page, it should immediately reverse this discriminatory policy,” she said.

Calling the policy a “war” against sex workers, the Sex Workers Outreach Project Behind Bars said the regulations would put many sex workers out of work and further maginize them.

“We say ‘war on sex workers’ because the damage they cause doesn’t have as much of an impact on work as it affects workers who depend on the Pornhub platform for a living,” the platform said.

“Violence against sex workers includes societal and institutional violence which has led to the closure of our online platforms which give us a measure of security and allow us the critical resource which is the ability to access banking services”, the platform said.

Sex workers say these policies do more harm than good.

“Forcing myself to complete a consent ‘contract’ or upload some ID that protects producers, platforms and banks from liability, I would have a harder time winning a lawsuit against an abusive producer. Sex workers themselves are rarely involved in legal or civil liability for trafficking, child sexual abuse or other problematic content. I only see this surveillance and these policies as additional exploitation doesn’t help; they make me less safe, ”said a sex worker Vice.

Ironically, while a large portion of adult platforms have strict content moderation and documentation policies, non-adult social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram often deliver adult and abusive content that , and is never arrested for it. According to an annual report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Facebook reported 20 billion cases of child sexual abuse in 2020, while the number of cases reported on the Snapchat platform was 144,000. Twitter has reported over 65,000 cases of child sexual abuse while Microsoft has reported 96,776 cases.

Read also : Card refused: Behind India’s decision to ban Mastercard

This is not, however, the first case where sex workers face financial discrimination. Payment processors like PayPal have refused to do business with sex workers because of the “high risk” nature of their work.

Many adult sites have already drafted new rules that comply with Mastercard regulations and alerted users to them. Porn site iWantClips, for example, recently informed its creators about the change in content review policies, warning them that non-compliance could result in the blacklisting of the wrong creators.

However, some websites, after complying with Mastercard’s rules, reversed them following general outcry from users. For example, Onlyfans announced in August that it would ban explicit content from its platform from October. The platform had to reverse its decision, however, after users protested against it. Onlyfans founder Tim Stokely said, however, that the website already complied with Mastercard rules and had nothing to do with the ban.