Mastercard Issues Sweeping New Reqs for “Sellers of Adult Content”

In a blog post published today, John Verdeschi, the Senior VP of Franchise Customer Engagement & Performance for Mastercard announced that the company is extending its “Specialty Merchant Registration requirements” such that banks which “connect merchants to our network will need to certify that the seller of adult content has effective controls in place to monitor, block and, where necessary, take down all illegal content.”

In the statement, Verdeschi justified the timing of the imposition of the new requirements by asserting that in “the past few years, the ability to upload content to the internet has become easier than ever. All someone needs is a smartphone and a Wi-Fi connection.”

“Now, our requirements address the risks associated with this activity,” Verdeschi added. “And that starts with strong content control measures and clear, unambiguous and documented consent.”

Verdeschi said the “updated” requirements also include “Documented age and identity verification for all people depicted and those uploading the content,” a “content review process prior to publication,” a “complaint resolution process that addresses illegal or nonconsensual content within seven business days” and an “appeals process allowing for any person depicted to request their content be removed.”

On Twitter, adult industry representatives, performers and entrepreneurs immediately reacted strongly to the news of Mastercard’s new requirements.

Adult performer and activist Mary Moody opined that the requirements would effectively “ban much of online sex work, especially live streaming,” adding that “OnlyFans, MyFreeCams & more are in danger.”

Today MasterCard introduced a policy that will ban much of online sex work, especially live streaming.

OnlyFans, MyFreeCams & more are in danger.

We need @ACLU @RoKhanna @AOC @ewarren @RonWyden to investigate this financial discrimination immediately.#MasterCensors pic.twitter.com/DUR93QXCXQ

— Mary Moody as seen in VICE, NBC, & BBC ✨ (@missmarymoody) April 14, 2021

“We should work to keep CSAM and other illegal material offline, but these broad restrictions are likely to have a devastating impact on legal adult businesses and content creators,” Free Speech Coalition Communications Director Mike Stabile told YNOT. “Producers should and do hold model release and age-verification forms, but in the age of the internet, clips travel widely — from tube sites to Twitter — it’s unreasonable to think that every platform where an adult image appears has the ability — or the willingness — to verify it. Most would rather block it than develop the complex vetting systems needed.”

Stabile added that “what we should all fear is the deplatforming of sex and sex workers online, especially on social (media).

“We should be concerned about the ability of a private corporation to pressure public platforms to block us, or be blocked themselves,” Stabile said.

As for the requirements announced by Mastercard, Stabile noted that the “language is so vague, and the devil is in the details.”

“We have no idea how it will be enforced, or when, or for whom,” Stabile added. “When it comes to obscene or illegal content, those outside our industry — whether corporations or politicians or evangelicals or judges, always think they know it when they see it — but when you mess with free speech, there are often major unintended consequences. The decimation of legal, ethical producers may not mean much to Mastercard, but to the tens of thousands of independent creators who depend on these networks, it’s incredibly frightening.”

YNOT will report further on this development and its impact in the days ahead. In the meantime, it may be worth considering a point made in a quote from one of Stabile’s own tweets today: “Crypto couldn’t have come at a better time.”

Hopefully I'm wrong. But the situation seems dire. Crypto couldn't have come at a better time. #MasterCensors #VisaVictims

— Mike Stabile (@mikestabile) April 14, 2021