For the first time, we are on the winning side of payment processor censorship. CCBill loses power over fetish producers’ content because AdultPlayX decided to fight back. A few weeks ago, we wrote a blogpost about CCBill’s attempt to censor fetish producers’ content. In the blogpost, we uploaded the website owner’s response to CCBill.
It is difficult for one producer to fight CCBill’s bank. However, AdultPlayX used its collective power to put pressure back onto processor’s financial institution for an outcome in favor of fetish producers.
CCBill’s Challenge
It is all too easy to point the finger at payment processors when they engage in censorship. However, according to one of CCBill’s team members, the processor has to cater to several parties: Visa, MasterCard, banks, and merchants. So it is virtually impossible to keep all parties happy.
Nonetheless, CCBill chose to maintain its relationship with AdultPlayX after the website owner temporarily disabled the processor from his platform; this was a risky move since the website relied on Bitpay as its sole processor.
Moving Forward
AdultPlayX was able to keep 95% of its content on the website. If CCBill’s bank was successful in its censorship attempts, the website would have had to disable a popular studio: No Mercy For Men. Although the studio has more extreme content, AdultPlayX was firm about keeping the producer on the platform.
Many people in the fetish community expected the website to adhere to the bank’s demands. However, the bank came close to completely withdrawing its position. The bank withdrew its attempt in disabling No Mercy For Men and AdultPlayX wasn’t bruised from the experience.
The End
In the past, payment processors would easily dictate the types of content that a website owner could display. This victory teaches us that the adult community must not forget its power. Fetish content is highly profitable and we are the reason why many institutions are able to profit from it. Hopefully, this victory will become a precedent to banks for future issues of censorship.
