Have You Called Visa Today?

I feel like I’ve been in a state of functional shock for the last few days. Ever since Itch.io announced a sweeping and perhaps temporary ban on NSFW writings, comics, and games, most of what I host there has been unavailable for purchase along with thousands of other titles. This is a virtual book burning. It’s as though I’m watching the bookstore in my small town burn to the ground and those responsible suggest that theirs was only a passive role. The Australian puritan group Collective Shout who claimed this “victory” has put their hands up at the increasingly volatile reactions, claiming that they didn’t ask Itch to make a blanket ban, only to ban certain types of materials…but we all know censorship isn’t a scalpel. It’s a shotgun.

The anger this time is directed effectively. Those who are most at fault are the payment processors who refuse to engage with NSFW material based on perceived “risk” involved with platforms that host it. That’s right, payment processors think that they get to tell you what you can spend your money on. Mastercard has historically been quite uptight about sexual content and PayPal commonly bans users and deactivates accounts based on their usage if they get a whiff of a boobie or a peen. More and more, we’re seeing just how scummy these corporations are…but what can we do?

I’ve been doing my part with calling and emailing and becoming a general nuisance to Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, and PayPal with mixed results. Most have started ignoring me, Stripe is confused as I don’t have an account with them, and PayPal has threatened me with deactivation. Others have reported that they’ve come across customer service reps who start yelling at them with one particular BlueSky user, mariotobias, claiming that a representative from Visa called them a “rapist.” This shouldn’t bother any of us who are still calling and emailing, as it’s easy to simply pretend to be clueless every time anyway, claiming that you’re “concerned” about what you’ve been hearing about censorship online as a result of payment processor terms and conditions…that this may have a chilling effect on the freedom of speech…that this doesn’t seem ethical… Surely calling customers “rapists” isn’t ethical either.

Do you want to do your part to push back against payment processors who are censoring the internet and deciding what you get to spend your money on? Take some contact information and go ham, girlies and gentlies. This is go-time. Not just this, but start looking at real life distribution options and alternative payments. If all else fails, start lying on the internet. They can’t ban you if they can’t find you.

Godspeed, fellow freaks. We’re in this together.