They mention having secured assurances from the banks that they would still be able to process transactions. I'd be curious to know what those involved considering this situation was apparently...
They mention having secured assurances from the banks that they would still be able to process transactions. I'd be curious to know what those involved considering this situation was apparently similar to the Pornhub problem and they are still unable to find a solution.
OF named and shamed the banks that were being problems for them, banks didn't want to deal with the PR issues, better to deal with OF then the mob. Not to mention that Pornhub had an issue with...
OF named and shamed the banks that were being problems for them, banks didn't want to deal with the PR issues, better to deal with OF then the mob. Not to mention that Pornhub had an issue with piracy that OF has some insulation against.
Honestly if this is how the situation is resolved it was a huge win for OnlyFans. They not only get to continue taking payments for their business, but they also get an additional business moat...
Honestly if this is how the situation is resolved it was a huge win for OnlyFans. They not only get to continue taking payments for their business, but they also get an additional business moat (since competitors will face the same payment FUD, except they haven't resolved it and don't have the clout to drive this much controversy) and an incredible amount of free advertisement.
Almost seems like the plan all along, but more likely it was just a fortuitous result for them that happened by accident.
OnlyFans has become so synonymous with e-girls selling nudes that this change would have outright killed their business had it gone through. I too wonder if they tried to push through this change...
OnlyFans has become so synonymous with e-girls selling nudes that this change would have outright killed their business had it gone through.
I too wonder if they tried to push through this change due to pressure from the finance industry or if they were just trying to pander to investors by throwing all the NSFW content creators under the bus.
I mean why would you even try to offer a SFW content creator subscription service when Patreon and SubscribeStar already exist, and SS has cornered the niche of taking in content creators that had been banished from the former platform?
Nothing wrong with more competition, and I've heard several patreons having issues with Patreon retroactively. And even externally, up to requesting artwork from outside the service being...
I mean why would you even try to offer a SFW content creator subscription service when Patreon and SubscribeStar already exist
Nothing wrong with more competition, and I've heard several patreons having issues with Patreon retroactively. And even externally, up to requesting artwork from outside the service being requested to take down in order to continue doing business (e.g. some content on their twitter but not on their patreon requested as in violation. Sometimes despite the artists not linking their twitter on their patreon account).
But I guess you knew that part given the next bullet point:
and SS has cornered the niche of taking in content creators that had been banished from the former platform?
Nothing wrong with redundancy, or competing for better services/rates for the creators. Nothing guarantees that SS won't have similar issues down the line, since it seems issues around sexually explicit content always gets more tight handed as a company expands.
This makes me legitimately curious if this was really a problem with banks/payments or if they just thought they could turn SFW and gather more venture capital but then the backlash hit them in...
This makes me legitimately curious if this was really a problem with banks/payments or if they just thought they could turn SFW and gather more venture capital but then the backlash hit them in the face. I suppose we'll never know, but I get a sense there's a lot of gaslighting coming from them, implying it was all on the financial side of things and not their own decision.
Mastercard has stated they're making changes to policy for adult content. However MC puts that onus on banks to carry out. What the details of the "Specialty Merchant Registration requirements"...
Mastercard has stated they're making changes to policy for adult content. However MC puts that onus on banks to carry out. What the details of the "Specialty Merchant Registration requirements" document actually entails I've yet to see.
My best guess is MC set requirements, banks said they don't want to have to enforce that so they told OF "no more porn", OF made the change, then announced it was XYZ banks that won't let them sell you porn any longer, and now the banks have allegedly come to some agreement. My money, as these requirements are rarely as difficult to meet as they appear/are reported, is the banks are drafting an agreement that puts the onus on OF, as it should be, with all the standard legalese to say "we reserve the right to check, but expect you to self regulate, and we can cancel any agreements should OF be found in violation of requirements."
Out of all the theories I've seen this one definitely sounds a lot more realistic and plausible. So there wasn't really bad PR at play, just legalese annoyances that force both parties to act...
Out of all the theories I've seen this one definitely sounds a lot more realistic and plausible. So there wasn't really bad PR at play, just legalese annoyances that force both parties to act regardless of what they want, and now they're finally hashing out the details to get a working relationship again.
Yesterday Onlyfans named and shamed several of the banks, they claim are at fault. Either banks got in touch with them after the story last week, or the offending banks decided they didn't want to...
Either banks got in touch with them after the story last week, or the offending banks decided they didn't want to deal with the PR situation and caved.
See I could see that If banks didn't have all the leverage in the world and could ignore any bad PR they wanted and nothing would change. I just don't see any reason why any bank would ever cave...
See I could see that If banks didn't have all the leverage in the world and could ignore any bad PR they wanted and nothing would change. I just don't see any reason why any bank would ever cave to such pressure.
Banks, card issuers, and payment processors are a huge monopoly, I can't imagine outrage over an adult site like Only Fans would get them to backtrack on anything, especially when they already a long track record of abandoning other adult services.
I don't deny that maybe they got in touch, I just don't think the PR was what pushed the banks to act, but maybe I'm wrong.
Yea I don't buy that OF has the PR leverage to make large banks "cave". Which is not to say they don't have any influence to throw around, they do, but not nearly enough to make a bank give any...
Yea I don't buy that OF has the PR leverage to make large banks "cave". Which is not to say they don't have any influence to throw around, they do, but not nearly enough to make a bank give any fucks above what they give for any other customer.
I'm guessing they hedged their bets. OF probably didn't think it likely that they would be able to negotiate an agreement that would let them continue offering adult content, so they geared up to yank the plug and then held their breath and crossed their fingers. Then it turned out they got an agreement they could live with, so they let go of the plug and did some PR spin.
OR they swapped banks, since banks who know what they do got in touch with them and said "we'll happily take your business." If that were the situation, it'd naturally happen after last week, when...
OR they swapped banks, since banks who know what they do got in touch with them and said "we'll happily take your business."
If that were the situation, it'd naturally happen after last week, when this all become a public situation.
Banks and card issuers aren't really a monopoly at all. I can think of at least half a dozen major banks off the top of my head, not to mention all the regional banks and credit unions out there....
Banks and card issuers aren't really a monopoly at all. I can think of at least half a dozen major banks off the top of my head, not to mention all the regional banks and credit unions out there.
Payment processors may form an oligopoly, but still not a monopoly. Visa and MasterCard form what is effectively a duopoly on credit/debit card transactions. They probably have the most power in this scenario.
They mention having secured assurances from the banks that they would still be able to process transactions. I'd be curious to know what those involved considering this situation was apparently similar to the Pornhub problem and they are still unable to find a solution.
OF named and shamed the banks that were being problems for them, banks didn't want to deal with the PR issues, better to deal with OF then the mob. Not to mention that Pornhub had an issue with piracy that OF has some insulation against.
Honestly if this is how the situation is resolved it was a huge win for OnlyFans. They not only get to continue taking payments for their business, but they also get an additional business moat (since competitors will face the same payment FUD, except they haven't resolved it and don't have the clout to drive this much controversy) and an incredible amount of free advertisement.
Almost seems like the plan all along, but more likely it was just a fortuitous result for them that happened by accident.
Pornhub's issue was that anyone could upload anything, which made it way easier for actual illegal content to proliferate on the platform.
OnlyFans has become so synonymous with e-girls selling nudes that this change would have outright killed their business had it gone through.
I too wonder if they tried to push through this change due to pressure from the finance industry or if they were just trying to pander to investors by throwing all the NSFW content creators under the bus.
I mean why would you even try to offer a SFW content creator subscription service when Patreon and SubscribeStar already exist, and SS has cornered the niche of taking in content creators that had been banished from the former platform?
Nothing wrong with more competition, and I've heard several patreons having issues with Patreon retroactively. And even externally, up to requesting artwork from outside the service being requested to take down in order to continue doing business (e.g. some content on their twitter but not on their patreon requested as in violation. Sometimes despite the artists not linking their twitter on their patreon account).
But I guess you knew that part given the next bullet point:
Nothing wrong with redundancy, or competing for better services/rates for the creators. Nothing guarantees that SS won't have similar issues down the line, since it seems issues around sexually explicit content always gets more tight handed as a company expands.
This makes me legitimately curious if this was really a problem with banks/payments or if they just thought they could turn SFW and gather more venture capital but then the backlash hit them in the face. I suppose we'll never know, but I get a sense there's a lot of gaslighting coming from them, implying it was all on the financial side of things and not their own decision.
Mastercard has stated they're making changes to policy for adult content. However MC puts that onus on banks to carry out. What the details of the "Specialty Merchant Registration requirements" document actually entails I've yet to see.
My best guess is MC set requirements, banks said they don't want to have to enforce that so they told OF "no more porn", OF made the change, then announced it was XYZ banks that won't let them sell you porn any longer, and now the banks have allegedly come to some agreement. My money, as these requirements are rarely as difficult to meet as they appear/are reported, is the banks are drafting an agreement that puts the onus on OF, as it should be, with all the standard legalese to say "we reserve the right to check, but expect you to self regulate, and we can cancel any agreements should OF be found in violation of requirements."
Out of all the theories I've seen this one definitely sounds a lot more realistic and plausible. So there wasn't really bad PR at play, just legalese annoyances that force both parties to act regardless of what they want, and now they're finally hashing out the details to get a working relationship again.
Yesterday Onlyfans named and shamed several of the banks, they claim are at fault.
Either banks got in touch with them after the story last week, or the offending banks decided they didn't want to deal with the PR situation and caved.
See I could see that If banks didn't have all the leverage in the world and could ignore any bad PR they wanted and nothing would change. I just don't see any reason why any bank would ever cave to such pressure.
Banks, card issuers, and payment processors are a huge monopoly, I can't imagine outrage over an adult site like Only Fans would get them to backtrack on anything, especially when they already a long track record of abandoning other adult services.
I don't deny that maybe they got in touch, I just don't think the PR was what pushed the banks to act, but maybe I'm wrong.
Yea I don't buy that OF has the PR leverage to make large banks "cave". Which is not to say they don't have any influence to throw around, they do, but not nearly enough to make a bank give any fucks above what they give for any other customer.
I'm guessing they hedged their bets. OF probably didn't think it likely that they would be able to negotiate an agreement that would let them continue offering adult content, so they geared up to yank the plug and then held their breath and crossed their fingers. Then it turned out they got an agreement they could live with, so they let go of the plug and did some PR spin.
OR they swapped banks, since banks who know what they do got in touch with them and said "we'll happily take your business."
If that were the situation, it'd naturally happen after last week, when this all become a public situation.
Banks and card issuers aren't really a monopoly at all. I can think of at least half a dozen major banks off the top of my head, not to mention all the regional banks and credit unions out there.
Payment processors may form an oligopoly, but still not a monopoly. Visa and MasterCard form what is effectively a duopoly on credit/debit card transactions. They probably have the most power in this scenario.