Mastercard states that it has not pressured Steam or itch.io over NSFW games despite Valve's claims

After Valve and itch(.)io claimed that payment processors were pressuring both companies to remove NSFW games from their respective storefronts, Mastercard has now insisted that it is not involved, despite Valve's claims.

The details:

• Last month, Valve began removing various NSFW games from Steam, citing pressure from payment processors such as Visa, PayPal, and Mastercard to remove titles that violated their own terms of service. This was quickly followed by indie platform Itch, which confirmed that it would also be "de-indexing" games for a similar reason, with only free NSFW titles returning to the storefront last week. The situation was allegedly caused by the Australian group Collective Shout, whose goal is to tackle games that objectify and glorify violence against women.
• In a new statement posted to its website, Mastercard claims that it has no direct involvement in the matter and that it has "not evaluated any game or required restrictions of any activity on game creator sites and platforms, contrary to media reports and allegations." "Our payment network follows standards based on the rule of law," the statement reads. "Put simply, we allow all lawful purchases on our network. At the same time, we require merchants to have appropriate controls to ensure Mastercard cards cannot be used for unlawful purchases, including illegal adult content."
• However, in a statement to Kotaku, Valve has disputed Mastercard's claims. "Mastercard did not communicate with Valve directly, despite our request to do so," the company said. “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. Payment processors rejected this and specifically cited Mastercard’s Rule 5.12.7 and risk to the Mastercard brand.”
• Rule 5.12.7 states that Mastercard prohibits any illegal transactions or those that it believes “may damage the goodwill of the Corporation or reflect negatively on the Marks.” This explicitly includes “sale of a product or service, including an image, which is 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.”

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