For maximum disruption, phone, then email. If they don't respond in a timely manner (or it's boilerplate bs), another phone call to "clarify" things.
Just remember, the grunts on the phone aren't your enemy. Your goal is to maximise the amount of time you swallow, not to upset them. They could often be allies in hiding.
We don't have to truly break them. We just have to be more annoying than the religious nutjobs.
Master card
US + Can English
(skips card number input)
Visa
PayPal
US English
Say "make a complaint"
Stripe (unconfirmed)
Script:
I’m calling to urge [company name] to immediately end the policy that unfairly targets the adult content industry. I’m also asking that [company name] sit down with stakeholders- specifically sex workers and adult content creators- to develop solutions that ensure equitable access to financial services, create stability, and reduce harm for sex workers.
Mastercard is now trying to get you to give your bank/card in order to take the complaint lol had 3 reps ask. Don't give em the info they might cancel your card or some shit in retaliation
I have a friend who runs starlight shop. She’s not allowed to use cards for many things because the payment processors are convinced she is running a scam since they have classes on reiki and palm reading and herbs and stones and other stuff they tell her they “don’t pay fortune tellers.”
This really should be regulated. Electronic payments must accept everything cash can be used for or nothing. None of this censorship bullshit.
I mean a broken clock is right twice a day. No one should be spending money on such nonsense. I’m not sure to call it a scam though. Is it a scam if you yourself are also a victim?
At least with adult content you are receiving what you pay for. When you are buying magic you literally are not getting what you paid for.
Even if you believe in magic it has never been shown to exist.
By that logic they should be closing down all the Christian stores. Notice how they aren’t.
I am a secular person. But at least at a Christian store you are getting the book/cross/thing you are paying for.
If you buy magic you get literally nothing.
At the voodoo store I can get books/totems/things I’m paying for.
If you buy hallelujah you get literally nothing.
A better analogy would be tithing by card. I'm not certain you can do it but I'd be surprised if not
Buying books and totems and things would not be scams. You give money and get a thing. Same as a Christian buying a Christian book or cross or angel statue.
Prayers and magic in exchange for money are you giving money for nothing. Hallelujah would be in the money for nothing category.
What about the service of performing a ritual?
I mean, if I want to spend my money on bullshit mumbo jumbo, that’s my prerogative. It’s not a payment processor’s responsibility to police what dumb shit I choose to believe in.
Hell does "we don't pay fortune tellers" mean? Remember miss Cleo? She made a crap load of money, and it definitely wasn't cash!
afaik it’s not a new policy for mastercard/visa: what’s new is that valve, itch, and even visa and mastercard were just kinda ignoring it
worth noting it’s not all adult content either… things like fisting even are fine, but “bodily fluids” are not. it’s a bit of a weird one all round
i think that they just did a big over-correction
and to be clear, i absolutely DO NOT think even the policy as it stands/stood should hold: they shouldn’t be in the business of morality policing almost anything - if i want to pay for videos/games with bodily fluids in porn then they should facilitate that transaction
The reason they want emails is because the phone calls are slowing the call center SLA to a crawl and tanking their metrics for the quarter. If this keeps up, the payment processor will push back next time and Christian authoritarians won't be able to get away with shenanigans like this again.
They probably have their customer support laid out as phone, email, and maybe chat. Phone is the most expensive support channel because it's 1 person to 1 problem and it's impossible to scale, so they can't roll out a bot or ignore the metrics for long. Keep up the pressure!
Do we think these payment processors are running their own call centers? Seems more likely that they're contracting the work out, and those firms just aren't going to get their contracts renewed.
I just tried Visa Canada and I got someone without any accent, so either they have their own or they have to run it out of Canada because of financial laws. I call the English line speaking French
Just because the call center is in the united states doesn't mean that the company did not contract the call center out.
I worked for 3 different call centers in the united states all of them were a 3rd party company and not the company I was providing customer service for.
That is the best part, we are disrupting the metrics that determine contracts between the call centers and the payment providers. If they have to renegotiate for whatever reason, it takes a lot of legal back and forth between parties. These are not boilerplate contracts and costs a lot of money.
Be sure to speak English if they transfer you to the French line
Did they have a Canadian accent, eh?
Despite what religions say, this is what they actually do:
They attempt to control your life based on their fiction.
Every time. Every year. Every century. It never stops. This is what religion is about. Controlling everything and everyone. For the better? Nope. Definitely not.
Would be nice if any religion ever had even a shred of proof. Imagine if a Catholic priest actually could do the Healing hands?
Nope. Just controlling dicks.
Id be all for benevolent authoritarianism.
That said, religion will never be that.
There's no benevolent authoritanism.
Otherwise, I'd be in-charge.
HUH??
Nonsensin
@DreamAccountant@lemmy.world @bytesonbike@discuss.online
It's a dangerous generalization, stating that "{all} religions want to control your life".
I'm somewhat Lilithian-Luciferian with many syncretic influences such as Thelemite and Hermetic concepts, and the very core values represented by Lilith and Lucifer are "do what thou wilt". Also, my belief neither chains me nor others, especially because I don't follow a religion or a religious group (and, well, having any dogmas wouldn't match the non-conformist, rebellious and anarchist values imbued by Them).
So, before conflating Abrahamic dogmas with the broad terms "religion" and "faith", be aware of how there are a plethora of different religions and belief systems around the world: some religions want to chain everybody, others want to break the chains.
Censorship is the fetish of the rich and powerfull.
Is there hope for the US? They are looking more and more like Saudi Arabia. What's next, killing journalists and banning the opposition?
Yes.
Gamers said they wanted women out of games, I thought they'd be happy. /s
Americans have alternatives in the form of Amex and Discover card apparently. Do we also have any alternative that works EU-wide at least? And where does one even get a card that's not Mastercard or Visa, if that's all that the local banks and my neobanks offer?
We Europeans should soon be able to pay with Wero online. And we can hope that the digital Euro and GNU Taler will establish themselves in the future.
That's great news for online, but I'd also like a card for offline and that still means either Mastercard or Visa :(
AFAIK, Wero has planned payment per NFC, but it might take a while. I wish some Austrian banks would have already joined in on Wero, but alas...
Wero already can transfer money between people btw, sending to phone numbers - if the other side already has Wero, it's direct, if not, they can supply a bank account for deposit
Wero is a fairly new technology on the market. They advertise it as being made in Europe. A bunch of major banks in Germany, France, and Belgium seem to support it. I haven't used it yet though.
It's a cool thing and will be great for online payments but I don't think there's a solution for in person payments yet, still need one of the big 2 for that
That's a good way to start the mass adoption of crypto as payment system.
I said the same thing on another post and got upvoted to the top. Damn, lemmy is fickle.
So hey, what are the actual alternatives to Visa and Mastercard, especially if you live in the US?
Amex and discover for credit card. PayPal (has also done similar), crypto if accepted and debit.
Paypal is not a valid alternative to this situation.
Are they a religious org? I thought they were explicitly feminist, or is that just the CEO?
Religious anti-choice feminists who protect the children by cheering for a show glorifying child sexual abuse, but banning video games that depict sex between consenting adults.
Yeaaaah...
People skeeting stuff.
Bluesky Social is a microblogging social platform being developed in conjunction with the decentralized AT Protocol. Previously invite-only, the flagship Beta app went public in February 2024. All are welcome!
