Kickstarter Is Forced to Ban Adult Content by Payment Processors

Re:Kickstarter Is Forced to Ban Adult Content by Payment Pro... by btown on Wednesday May 13, 2026 @11:52AM (#48123554)

The actual answer: hedge fund manager Bill Ackman. https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/2bswuu1nfc040h...

> But he was friendly with Mastercard’s then-CEO Ajay Banga, whom he had met through a mutual friend. Ackman texted Banga, providing a link to Kristof’s story with his tweet: “Amex, VISA and MasterCard should immediately withhold payments or withdraw until this is fixed. PayPal has already done so.” (Ackman was unaware that American Express already did not allow its card to be used on adult sites.)

> Banga quickly wrote back: “We’re on it.”

> Then things began to move. Within days, Mastercard announced it had “instructed the financial institutions that connect the site to our network to terminate acceptance” of [PH] charges, saying it had found evidence of illegal activity and was continuing to investigate.

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Re:Kickstarter Is Forced to Ban Adult Content by Payment Pro... by Cyph0n on Wednesday May 13, 2026 @12:19PM (#48123965)

Huh, the same person who was behind crushing the campus protests & blacklisting/cancellation of protestors at Harvard that were in opposition to the Gaza genocide.

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Re:Kickstarter Is Forced to Ban Adult Content by Payment Pro... by andtheboat on Wednesday May 13, 2026 @12:01PM (#48123664)

early life... yep

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Re:Kickstarter Is Forced to Ban Adult Content by Payment Pro... by throw4847285 on Wednesday May 13, 2026 @12:12PM (#48123859)

You mean the Harvard MBA right? He means the Harvard MBA?

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Re:Kickstarter Is Forced to Ban Adult Content by Payment Pro... by tt24 on Wednesday May 13, 2026 @12:04PM (#48123709)

What’s the implication here? Jews are forcing payment processors to ban adult content?

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Re:Kickstarter Is Forced to Ban Adult Content by Payment Pro... by nathanmills on Wednesday May 13, 2026 @01:14PM (#48124697)

Yes, that is exactly what is happening.

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Re:Kickstarter Is Forced to Ban Adult Content by Payment Pro... by tt24 on Wednesday May 13, 2026 @01:25PM (#48124831)

What’s their motivation for this?

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Re:Kickstarter Is Forced to Ban Adult Content by Payment Pro... by nathanmills on Wednesday May 13, 2026 @01:36PM (#48124959)

They claim it "damages people's ability to study and pray."

http://archive.today/2023.09.22-005544/https://www.theatlant...

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Re:Kickstarter Is Forced to Ban Adult Content by Payment Pro... by throw4847285 on Wednesday May 13, 2026 @01:20PM (#48124779)

I thought the Jews were creating pornography to keep gentile men down. Now they're also preventing access to pornography?

Don't tell me they're responsible for Bolshevism and Capitalism!?!

Damn, they don't call it the socialism of fools for nothing.

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Re:Kickstarter Is Forced to Ban Adult Content by Payment Pro... by nathanmills on Wednesday May 13, 2026 @01:33PM (#48124924)

Have you considered that different people have different beliefs, or do you just think everyone who disagrees with you is just one person who thinks the same thing?

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Re:Kickstarter Is Forced to Ban Adult Content by Payment Pro... by throw4847285 on Wednesday May 13, 2026 @01:40PM (#48125011)

Ok, what do you believe?

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Re:Kickstarter Is Forced to Ban Adult Content by Payment Pro... by nathanmills on Wednesday May 13, 2026 @01:42PM (#48125040)

I've already stated it. Is there something specific you are asking for?

>> What’s the implication here? Jews are forcing payment processors to ban adult content?

> Yes, that is exactly what is happening.

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Re:Kickstarter Is Forced to Ban Adult Content by Payment Pro... by nwah1 on Wednesday May 13, 2026 @12:05PM (#48123744)

So, the problem is that he feels strongly about not incentivizing what he considers sexual exploitation. If he had the reverse position, then suddenly you would feel more positively about his identity group?

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Re:Kickstarter Is Forced to Ban Adult Content by Payment Pro... by bakugo on Wednesday May 13, 2026 @01:17PM (#48124735)

You really think a billionaire is going out of his way to take a moral stance against "sexual exploitation" just because?

He stands to gain something from it. They always do. I bet some of his friends just happen to own professional porn studios, who obviously benefit from tightening the noose on the competition, such as "independent" porn creators.

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Re:Kickstarter Is Forced to Ban Adult Content by Payment Pro... by epolanski on Wednesday May 13, 2026 @02:04PM (#48125311)

There isn't a single anti semitic comment in your replies, mind to link it?

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Re:Kickstarter Is Forced to Ban Adult Content by Payment Pro... by btown on Wednesday May 13, 2026 @02:21PM (#48125508)

The reply has been flagged/marked dead by HN since, and should at minimum auto-collapse (thus hiding even worse replies to it) regardless of your account's "showdead" settings. I'm not going to link to it, and it's not worth reading regardless.

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Re:Kickstarter Is Forced to Ban Adult Content by Payment Pro... by tt24 on Wednesday May 13, 2026 @03:14PM (#48126152)

It was flagged. I replied to it, you can get the gist of what it was based on my reply.

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Re:Kickstarter Is Forced to Ban Adult Content by Payment Pro... by nathanmills on Wednesday May 13, 2026 @02:26PM (#48125577)

Here's the comment thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48123664

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