this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2025
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Updated: 8/1/2025 4:18 p.m. ET: In a statement to Kotaku, a spokesperson for Valve said that while Mastercard did not communicate with it directly, concerns did come through payment processor and banking intermediaries. They said payment processors rejected Valve’s current guidelines for moderating illegal content on Steam, citing Mastercard’s Rule 5.12.7.

“Mastercard did not communicate with Valve directly, despite our request to do so,” Valve’s statement sent over email to Kotaku reads. “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.”

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.”

It goes on, “The sale of a product or service, including an image, which is patently offensive and lacks serious artistic value (such as, by way of example and not limitation, images of nonconsensual sexual behavior, sexual exploitation of a minor, nonconsensual mutilation of a person or body part, and bestiality), or any other material that the Corporation deems unacceptable to sell in connection with a Mark.”

Violations of rule 5.12.7 can result in fines, audits, or companies being dropped by the payment processors.

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[–] SheeEttin@lemmy.zip 317 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

"Nonconsensual mutilation of a person or body part" includes just about every fighter or shooter game. They really want to have COD delisted over this?

[–] yeahiknow3@lemmings.world 137 points 2 weeks ago

To be fair, that would be fucking hilarious.

[–] acosmichippo@lemmy.world 63 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

you're missing some context in that.

"The sale of a product... which is patently offensive and lacks serious artistic value... (such as... images of... Nonconsensual mutilation of a person or body part"

insert joke about COD lacking artistic value, but clearly there is more to COD than just body mutilation.

[–] SPRUNT@lemmy.world 185 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

"Patently offensive" and "lacks serious artistic value" are entirely subjective classifications. With those restrictions, any game with country music should be delisted.

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[–] CocaineShrimp@sh.itjust.works 202 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I don't think they realize how much worse their brands look now, after starting all this shit...

[–] fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net 70 points 2 weeks ago (17 children)

I want to cancel ally visa and mastercard cards and never give them my business ever again after this

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[–] filcuk@lemmy.zip 40 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Does it really matter when you're a duopoly and equally bad as one another?

[–] fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net 29 points 2 weeks ago

Until they're not, and any competition now has the NSFW and LGBT markets to themselves

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[–] dreugeworst@lemmy.ml 186 points 2 weeks ago (16 children)

nonconsensual mutilation of a person or body part

I feel like a strict reading of this rule would also put a lot of fighting games, shooters, horror games etc in the not approved category

[–] Simulation6@sopuli.xyz 124 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I think some christian items could also be affected, like the bible. Cane and Able, crucifixion, etc are all in that book

[–] xiwi@lemmy.dbzer0.com 52 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)
[–] rautapekoni@sopuli.xyz 47 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

And circumcision of children.

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[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 85 points 2 weeks ago

nonconsensual mutilation of a person or body part

All action movies should removed from streaming.

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 32 points 2 weeks ago (8 children)

Right now in Rimworld I am sending child soldiers to bring more ammo to the mortars that are busy pounding away at some primitive tribesmen that are angry at me for dumping a few tons of toxic waste on their home or something.

Those that survive the mortar bombardment will be lobotomised and enslaved. If they have enough limbs remaining to be useful to me I will probably use a few of them as slaves and the rest will be sold to the empire. Any that the empire don't want will be harvested for organs and dumped in a corpse pit.

I didn't ask if the tribesmen consented to any of this.

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[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 161 points 2 weeks ago (21 children)

Brilliant, just make your rules vague and force everyone else down the chain to self-censor. Surely this will result in the best outcome.

Fucking mastercard

[–] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 56 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (15 children)

It's not even that vague.

Valve basically said: "we are not doing anything illegal".

To which mastercard responded: "yeah but you're making us look bad, so tough".

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[–] Grizzlyboy@lemmy.zip 141 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

I love how this has damaged Mastercards brand much more than anything Valve sells. MC would rather pressure Valve for selling NSFW games, than clean up billionaires buying and trafficking children.

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[–] NONE_dc@lemmy.world 115 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Collective Shout says it wasn't their fault, MC and Visa say it wasn't their fault, Steam and Itch say it wasn't their fault. Conclusion? No one is to blame! No one did it! What's more, it didn't even happen!! it was all a figment of our imagination!

[–] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 50 points 2 weeks ago

Gee golly I accidentally dropped internet privacy into the garbage and almost threw it out with the trash. Oops didnt mean to! Silly me.

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[–] PlzGivHugs@sh.itjust.works 113 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Tl;dr: Mastercard says they didn't "force" Valve to remove nsfw games. They just told them that if they didn't remove the games that were complained about by Collective Shout, they'll block them.

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 30 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

Couldn't they just block collective shout thus probably losing far less business?

[–] PlzGivHugs@sh.itjust.works 31 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Mastercard? Yes, but then they'd have to admit that they were in the wrong, so it seems unlikely.

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[–] merdaverse@lemmy.world 109 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

“Mastercard did not communicate with Valve directly, despite our request to do so,” Valve’s statement sent over email to Kotaku reads. “Mastercard communicated with payment processors and their acquiring banks. Payment processors communicated this with Valve

This whole thing reads like a telephone game where nobody wants to take any responsibility.

[–] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 78 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Honestly, I don't care if MasterCard doesn't want to take responsibility. It was their rule and their intermediaries that caused the situation and they did not intervene when valve tried to reach out directly.

They are responsible through action or inaction, no matter how they try to deny it.

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[–] bryndos@fedia.io 27 points 2 weeks ago

At work when no one wants to pick up a task, I issue the "slopey shoulders" award.

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/mrmen/images/1/15/Mr_cheeky1.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20170519093913

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[–] CameronDev@programming.dev 95 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Ok furry artists, you know what to do, I wanna see the filthiest Visa x MasterCard art you can dream off. Payment process me baby

[–] puppycat@lemmy.blahaj.zone 134 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

not furry but someone already made mastercard-chan and visa-kun

[–] CameronDev@programming.dev 34 points 2 weeks ago

Thats hot. And I am going to assume this is canon from now on.

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[–] surph_ninja@lemmy.world 92 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Put simply, we allow all lawful purchases on our network.

As Valve correctly points out, this is a blatant & outright lie. They have cut off any number of legal entities over pressure from politicians or groups. Now they have to own it.

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[–] TheGreenWizard@lemmy.zip 84 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

So obviously somebody is lying. I really don't understand why Valve or Itch would be the ones lying about this. My money is on the group of self righteous censorship soldiers with too much time on their hands, and the payment companies. I could always be wrong I though.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 36 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

MasterCard is so big they don't even know what all their departments are doing. The PR department probably asked a couple of the top level execs if they were pushing for this and they said no so they claimed it didn't happen.

[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 41 points 2 weeks ago

MasterCard knows exactly what they're doing.

executive leadership is varying degrees of Christian nationalist and trump supporters.

source: me, I know people.

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If nobody takes responsibility, then they should all just agree that this was a big misunderstanding and reinstate the titty games.

[–] angrystego@lemmy.world 71 points 2 weeks ago (9 children)

Isn't every game NSFW? Funny how language works.

[–] mx_smith@lemmy.world 36 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Unless your work has been gamified. I play several games at work, one called Jira, another called GIT they aren’t super exciting but it’s a job.

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[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 60 points 2 weeks ago

Fuckers are just propagating the fury without providing a fix. Are the censored games back or not? Because right now they aren't. Put them back and make Mastercard do something about it now that they have staged their position. Collective Shout is playing both sides.

[–] darthelmet@lemmy.world 60 points 2 weeks ago

Gotta love it when companies put something in their legal agreements that just says “we can do whatever the fuck we want.” Is the rest of the wall of text just there to hide that somewhere someone won’t read?

[–] Eyekaytee@aussie.zone 55 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

so it was about potential brand damage that doesn’t exist? and/or has this actually brand damaged visa and mastercard more than ignoring collective shout?

[–] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 53 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

What I see is Mastercard hiding behind their generic rules for processors and being fine with the processors taking unilateral action that could damage their brand.

Mastercard should demand they rescind the decision based on a flawed interpretation of their rules since the content IS NOT ILLEGAL where Steam provides it, or drop those processors entirely due to the brand damage their unilateral decision has caused. If Mastercard lets this sit, that signals that they agree with this decision, regardless of what they say, and they should be treated as such.

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[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 51 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world 48 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

We have seen the same behavior out of the credit card companies before. Its pretty clear that they do pressure companies to remove content they don't approve of. Its censorship and its legal since the companies are not the government. They are just tied in at a high level to the banking industry. Its a good example of how lack of regulation harms both creators and consumers.

It lets a bunch of poorly adjusted individuals force their personal mental problems on us all.

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[–] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 43 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

I guess turn the boobs butts and dicks up to 10,000 then. In every game.

Its time for Gordon freeman to do unholy things with a headcrab!

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[–] haloduder@thelemmy.club 39 points 1 week ago

So much fucking censorship and agenda-pushing on the internet.

It makes me sick how many useful idiots are being herded like sheep just to satisfy those with more money than them.

[–] Electricd@lemmybefree.net 26 points 2 weeks ago

Maybe the payment processors lied?

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