Mastercard finally met an enemy that's actually giving it issues in gamers.
As I write this, the credit card company is attempting to do some damage control after it decided to step into the censorship game at the behest of an Australian censorship organization.
As I reported at the end of last month, both Mastercard and Visa came down on the online video game stores of Steam and Itch.io for video games that were adult-themed to the point of being overtly disgusting but still within legal limits. The group known as "Collective Shout" is a feminist group out of Australia that overwhelmed these companies with pressure and phone calls to force these platforms into removing these games from purchase or else they would remove their services.
As this would cripple both platforms, they had no choice but to give in.
Collective Shout spiked the football on social media, but gamers were more than displeased, and not necessarily because they couldn't buy these games. Many had no interest in them, but they abhorred the idea that a special interest group, and moreover a major credit card company, could implement censorship measures on the community.
Moreover, they found it awfully strange that Collective Shout has an issue with sexually explicit games but praised the Netflix movie Cuties, which displayed young girls dancing provocatively.
But while Collective Shout and groups like it are annoying, they don't have teeth unless corporations give them any, which is why gamers turned their ire toward Visa and Mastercard, and Mastercard is finding itself on the losing side of a PR war.
The backlash has been nasty for Mastercard, as gamers haven't just rallied gamers across the globe to call Mastercard and plague their call centers with complaints that these call centers have to pay for, but have gotten creative in all the ways they can make sure Mastercard gets the message. Just typing in the term "Mastercard" into the X search bar will display a myriad of posts directing millions of people on how to best contact the company and complain.
And it's working.
Mastercard issues a statement claiming that they don't censor games that aren't illegal, however this is a demonstrable lie, and the lie was so obvious that X's community notes obliterated it publicly.
Mastercard's official statement reads:
“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.”
Effectively, the company is trying to sell the idea that it's doing what it's always done, and stayed a neutral party to transactions so long as they're legal, however Community Notes provided the evidence that this wasn't true in the least. Moreover, Community Notes provided historical proof of Mastercard recently attempting to censor retailers in Japan from selling adult content.
Mastercard is definitely feeling the heat, and they wouldn't have responded if they weren't, but there's some icing to put on top of this entire cake.
The entire situation has inspired a particular billionaire gamer to put his plan to create a rival to these credit card companies.
This could go from bad to worse for Mastercard and Visa real quick. These brands attempt to insert themselves as moral arbiters of society is wrong. Their job is to simply act as payment processors, not morality police. If they've gotten too hubristic for their own good, then it sounds like competition is needed to keep them honest.
Do you enjoy RedState’s conservative reporting that takes on the radical left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join RedState VIP and use the promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership!