Following shocking new censorship at the behest of payment processors, Mastercard has denied allegations they were one of the parties behind the new censorship.
In a new statement, the major pay processor clarified they were only acting in accordance with local law and not of their own accord.
This excuse would align with the government bodies pushing towards digital ID all over the globe at the same time, however the timeline does not line up.
It seems Mastercard jumped the gun, though, as a prompt response from the biggest gaming distributor on the planet, Steam, has confirmed they were instructed to remove games at the behest of the pay processor.
A Valve representative confirmed Mastercard tried shifting the blame on other payment processors for, ironically, adhering to Mastercard’s own rulebook.
Prior to games’ removal, Valve attempted to communicate with Mastercard directly in order to reach an understanding, but could not establish a direct line of communication with Mastercard:
“Mastercard did not communicate with Valve directly, despite our request to do so,” Valve said in a statement. “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.”
The Valve rep added, “Payment processors rejected this, and specifically cited Mastercard’s Rule 5.12.7 and risk to the Mastercard brand.”
That rule from Mastercard 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.”
Things that are deemed potentially damaging to Mastercard include any product or services that are “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.”
So it would seem Mastercard is putting pressure on Acquirers (financial institutions that processes credit or debit card payments on behalf of a Merchant) by enforcing threatening them with disciplinary actions in bad faith, considering adult video games do not neatly fall into the second paragraph of the Violation definitions of rule 5.12.7.
