In this guide
- The rule-makers nobody voted for
- December 2020: the week Pornhub lost its cards
- Mastercard’s 2021 rules
- August 2021: the OnlyFans ban that lasted six days
- 2022: the advertising network cut-off
- 2025: when it spread to video games
- Why card networks care so much
- The good side, and the problem
- What it means for performers and creators
- My take
When people ask me who controls the porn industry, they expect me to name a big studio or a website. The honest answer is more surprising. Some of the most powerful decisions in my industry in the last six years were made by payment companies: Visa, Mastercard, the banks that process their payments, and the smaller companies that sit between them and the websites.
A law takes years to pass. A payment processor can change the rules for an entire sector in a week. I have watched it happen several times. Here is how, with the dates and the sources, and then my opinion as someone who earns a living inside this system.
The rule-makers nobody voted for
Online adult businesses cannot survive without card payments. Subscriptions, pay-per-view, clips, tips, cams: almost everything is paid by card. To accept cards, a website needs an acquiring bank and usually a payment processor that specialises in “high-risk” merchants. Those banks must follow the rules of the card networks.
So if Visa or Mastercard decides a type of content is too risky, the bank tells the processor, the processor tells the website, and the website changes its rules, often in days. Performers and creators usually find out last.
December 2020: the week Pornhub lost its cards
On December 4, 2020, the New York Times published a column by Nicholas Kristof called “The Children of Pornhub,” alleging that the site hosted videos of child sexual abuse and nonconsensual content. Within days, the pressure became financial.
On December 10, 2020, Mastercard and Visa said they would stop allowing their cards to be used on Pornhub while they investigated (New York Times; AP News).
Pornhub’s response was dramatic. It stopped allowing uploads from unverified users, removed downloads, and then took down all content from unverified accounts. The Verge reported that the site removed most of its videos, cutting its library from about 13.5 million to under 3 million (The Verge; Ars Technica).
In one weekend, the biggest free porn site in the world changed more than it had in a decade of criticism. Not because of a court ruling, but because of payment cards.
In my industry, a press release from a card network can do in days what a law could not do in years.
Mastercard’s 2021 rules
In April 2021, Mastercard published new standards for banks that serve adult-content merchants. Under those rules, the banks must make sure merchants (Mastercard):
- verify the age and identity of anyone depicted and anyone uploading content;
- obtain documented consent from everyone depicted;
- review content before publication, and have a complaints process and a way to appeal.
For professional studios, much of this was already standard. As I explain in consent on a porn set, US producers have kept age and ID records for decades. But for user-upload sites and amateur platforms, it was a huge change. It is one of the reasons creator platforms today require identity checks for everyone in a video.
August 2021: the OnlyFans ban that lasted six days
In August 2021, OnlyFans shocked its own creators. It announced that from October 1 it would ban sexually explicit content. Its CEO at the time, Tim Stokely, told the Financial Times that banks were the reason, saying they made it difficult to pay creators, and named BNY Mellon among those rejecting transfers.
After a huge backlash from creators, OnlyFans reversed the decision on August 25, 2021, saying it had secured assurances from its banking partners (Reuters; The Guardian). I tell the full story in the OnlyFans 2021 porn ban explained.
2022: the advertising network cut-off
The pressure came back in 2022. After a US federal judge allowed a lawsuit against Visa to continue in a case linked to Pornhub, Visa suspended the acceptance privileges of TrafficJunky, the advertising arm of Pornhub’s then-owner MindGeek, in August 2022 (Visa). Mastercard also directed banks to suspend acceptance at TrafficJunky (Mastercard, August 2022).
That meant advertisers could not use those cards to buy ads on the network. Again, a financial decision with a direct effect on the business.
2025: when it spread to video games
For years, people outside the adult industry thought this was only about porn sites. In July 2025, it reached video games.
Valve, the company behind Steam, added a rule against content that could violate the standards of its payment processors and removed a number of adult games. Valve said that losing payment methods would prevent customers from buying anything on Steam. Shortly after, itch.io deindexed its NSFW content to protect its payment infrastructure (Ars Technica; itch.io). The removals followed a campaign by the Australian group Collective Shout. Valve later said processors had cited a Mastercard rule about content that could damage the brand, while Mastercard said it had not evaluated the games (PC Gamer).
The details are still argued about. The lesson is not: whoever controls payment controls what can be sold.
Why card networks care so much
From the outside it looks like moralism. From the inside, I think it is mostly about risk:
- Legal risk. Card networks have been sued for processing payments on sites accused of hosting abuse material.
- Reputation risk. No brand wants headlines linking it to child abuse or nonconsensual content.
- Chargebacks and fraud. Adult purchases have historically had higher rates of disputes, such as “I did not make this purchase.”
- Activist pressure. Campaign groups have learned that it is easier to pressure a few payment companies than thousands of websites.
That is why adult businesses usually pay higher processing fees and have stricter monitoring than a normal online shop.
The good side, and the problem
I want to be fair, because this is not simple.
The good side: the 2020 crisis forced the biggest platforms to verify uploaders and remove anonymous content. Abuse material and nonconsensual videos are crimes, and the victims are real. If financial pressure helped remove them, I am glad. Every serious person in my industry wants abusers out.
The problem: payment companies are not courts and they are not elected. Their decisions can be sudden, they are not always transparent, and the people who pay the price are often legal adult workers who did nothing wrong. Creators lose income when a platform changes rules overnight. Performers report having bank accounts closed simply because of their job. And when policies are vague, like “brand damage,” it is hard to know what is allowed tomorrow.
What it means for performers and creators
Practical lessons I would give anyone working in adult content:
- Never depend on one platform. Rules can change in a week. I explain this in OnlyFans vs Fansly vs Fanvue.
- Keep your paperwork perfect. ID and consent for everyone in your content. It protects you, your partners and your account.
- Separate business banking and keep clean records. If a bank asks questions, you can answer them.
- Own your audience. An email list or your own website is harder to switch off than a profile.
- Follow the news. The people who adapted fastest in 2020 and 2021 were the ones who saw it coming.
My take
I have been in this business for 14 years. In that time, I have seen laws, lawsuits and scandals. But nothing has changed the daily reality of my industry as fast as a decision from a card network.
I support the goal of removing abuse and nonconsensual content, completely. What worries me is a world where legal adult work is controlled by a few private companies that answer to brand managers rather than to the public. The answer, I think, is clear laws, applied equally, with real verification and consent rules, so that payment companies do not have to invent the rules themselves.
If you want to see how these changes affected the women of this industry and their careers, read my columns on House of Maximo. And for the laws that came next, read porn age verification laws.
To follow my work, visit maximogarciaworld.com, and for the 18+ side, fuckingpornstars.net.
Sources
- The New York Times. Mastercard and Visa stop allowing their cards to be used on Pornhub. December 10, 2020.
- AP News. Visa, Mastercard won’t allow charges for services on Pornhub.
- The Verge. Pornhub just removed most of its videos. December 14, 2020.
- Ars Technica. Millions of videos purged from Pornhub.
- Mastercard. Protecting our network, protecting you: preventing illegal adult content on our network. April 2021.
- Reuters. OnlyFans reverses ban on posting ‘sexually explicit’ content. August 25, 2021.
- The Guardian. OnlyFans scraps plans to ban sexually explicit material.
- Visa. We do not tolerate using our network for illegal activity. August 2022.
- Mastercard. Statement reinforcing adult content standards. August 2022.
- Ars Technica. Steam cracks down on some sex games to appease payment processors. July 2025.
- itch.io. Update on NSFW content.
- PC Gamer. Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down.
