Actually, I might have fudged my memory on the "fictional or not" bit. My current recollection of how it happened is that it started with activist groups (orgs like RAINN) threatening these places like Patreon and Pixiv, and then they brought it to the attention of Mastercard/Visa, citing "federal laws". I'm not sure it's 100% the case that there are federal "obscenity" laws, but it seems to be that said groups are conflating fictional material (nebulous) with physical material (absolutely? illegal), similar to the retards that conflated Senran Kagura with pedophilia/CP years ago. This conflation is the excuse that the payment processors are using along with the newer "across the company" law, ergo, by applying US Fed law to foreign purchases in this manner, fictional works are getting attacked. Sites that caved to keep MC/Visa are obviously patrolling their paywalls to find "illicit content" because I do see stuff get taken down.

Actually, I might have fudged my memory on the "fictional or not" bit. My understanding of how it happened is that it started with activist groups (orgs like RAINN) threatening these places like Patreon and Pixiv, and then they brought it to the attention of Mastercard/Visa, citing "federal laws". I'm not sure it's 100% the case that there are federal "obscenity" laws, but it seems to be that said groups are conflating fictional material (nebulous) with physical material (absolutely? illegal), similar to the retards that conflated Senran Kagura with pedophilia/CP years ago. This conflation is the excuse that the payment processors are using along with the newer "across the company" law, ergo, by applying US Fed law to foreign purchases in this manner, fictional works are getting attacked. Sites that caved to keep MC/Visa are obviously patrolling their paywalls to find "illicit content" because I do see stuff get taken down.