Folks, your calls are working.
On Friday, Mastercard released the following statement:
Mastercard has not evaluated any game or required restrictions of any activity on game creator sites and platforms, contrary to media reports and allegations. Our payment network follows standards based on the rule of law. Put simply, we allow all lawful purchases on our network. At the same time, we require merchants to have appropriate controls to ensure Mastercard cards cannot be used for unlawful purchases, including illegal adult content.
In a statement to PC Gamer, gaming platform Valve responded. (Valve is the parent company of the game-distribution platform Steam.) The following is from PC Gamer.com:
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"Mastercard did not communicate with Valve directly, despite our request to do so," a Valve representative said. "Mastercard communicated with payment processors and their acquiring banks. Payment processors communicated this with Valve, and we replied by outlining Steam’s policy since 2018 of attempting to distribute games that are legal for distribution.
"Payment processors rejected this, and specifically cited Mastercard’s Rule 5.12.7 and risk to the Mastercard brand."
[SOURCE: PC Gamer]
Mastercard’s Rule 5.12.7 states:
A Merchant must not submit to its Acquirer, and a Customer must not submit to the Interchange System, any Transaction that is illegal, or in the sole discretion of the Corporation, may damage the goodwill of the Corporation or reflect negatively on the Marks.
Itch.io, which distributes games and comics, shared similar sentiments. In a statement released upon de-listing adult content, they said they "came under scrutiny from our payment processors" following pressure from the organization Collective Shout regarding certain adult games. In the days since, Itch.io has stated that it is conducting a "comprehensive audit" of its content to ensure it can meet the requirements of its payment processor. Just last night, the storefront re-indexed free adult NSFW content, stating it would be "re-introducing paid content slowly" and was in ongoing discussions with payment processors. [SOURCE: IGN]
Polygon confirms that the calls are having an impact on Mastercard:
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In a now-deleted post on the Steam subreddit with over 17,000 upvotes, commenters say that customer service representatives for both payment processors seem to already be aware of the problem. Sometimes, the representatives will say that they’ve gotten multiple calls on the subject of adult game censorship, but that they can’t really do anything about it.
The folks applying pressure know that someone at a call center has limited power in a scenario like this one; typically, agents are equipped to handle standard customer issues like payment fraud or credit card loss. But the point isn’t to enact change through a specific phone call: It’s to cause enough disruption that the ruckus theoretically starts costing payment processors money.
“Emails can be ignored, but a very very long queue making it near impossible for other clients to get in will help a lot as well,” reads the top comment on the Reddit thread. In that same thread, people say that they’re hanging onto the call even if the operator says that they’ll experience multi-hour wait times presumably caused by similar calls gunking up the lines. Beyond the stubbornness factor, the tactic is motivated by the knowledge that most customer service systems will put people who opt for call-backs in a lower priority queue, as anyone who opts in likely doesn’t have an emergency going on.
[SOURCE: Polygon]
Keep going…
That’s reason to celebrate, but we’re not across the finish line yet. Your calls still matter. In fact, your calls are now more critical than ever. Mastercard can’t sweep this issue under the carpet with a press release. Our goal is to reverse the policy.
I’ve posted a handy guide to calling Mastercard and other payment processors. It includes phone numbers, tips on what to say, and how to interact with the call-center staff. Remember: The poor sap answering the phone didn’t make this decision. Be firm, but don’t be belligerent. That simply gives them the excuse they need to hang up sooner. And this action works best when we take up as much of their time as possible.
Coming Soon…
I will continue to follow this story as it develops, but my goal is to maintain a once-a-week posting schedule. Next week, I plan to share a guide to shadowbanning — what it is (and isn’t) and what you can do about it. Please feel free to get in touch and suggest other topics and discussions for the weeks ahead!