Banking Issues Facing Adult Business Owners
It is understandable why the adult entertainment industry is regarded with distrust. Like any business that deals with sex, owners in this industry face greater scrutiny from the public and authorities. Sexual connections is what we do for a living.
Outsiders frequently see this profession as unlawful and believe it to be nothing more than prostitution or the illicit sex trade. The US Department of Justice strictly regulates the adult entertainment industry, therefore contrary to common assumption, virtually little unlawful conduct occurs.
Financial discrimination is a serious issue, nevertheless, when it comes to the easily available banking resources needed by adult industry enterprises. Adult B2B Marketing has over 20 years of expertise in the adult industry and has successfully navigated several challenges. We have also encountered this kind of prejudice. However, given the institutional power of many large banks and financial institutions globally, the challenges we’re discussing in this blog article are among the most divisive and challenging to overcome. In this blog article, the Adult B2B Marketing team discusses financial discrimination against business owners in the adult entertainment industry and offers solutions.
What Is Financial Discrimination?
Financial discrimination is a major issue. Financial discrimination is the practice of banks and other financial institutions consciously or inadvertently declining to provide banking and financial services to certain groups of people, regardless of the existence of financial constraints on the types of employment available to them.
The basis for this discrimination include race, ethnicity, religion, low income, job position, industry of work, and the source of revenue deposited into a bank account. Banks can take a range of measures, ranging from the simple act of abruptly closing an account and deducting funds from the account holder to the more drastic measure of reporting bank accounts to police authorities for suspected unlawful activity.
Many professionals in the adult business experience financial prejudice if their financial institution thinks that illegal activity is taking place or if the checking or savings account is being utilized for sex-based work. The majority of American banks prohibit its clients from using their accounts for any kind of sexual activity. Thus, there are a number of obstacles to utilizing trustworthy financial services if you operate a firm in the adult market.
What Is Financial Censorship?
Financial censorship is another issue that the adult entertainment industry must handle. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) defines financial censorship as “when financial institutions and payment intermediaries shut down accounts or inhibit transactions” that occur via the internet. The EFF claims that this strategy might “have serious ramifications for free expression online.” All of this culminates in the disheartening realization that a tiny number of payment processors, like credit card firms, have an outsized influence on a website’s ability to make money off of specific kinds of content. Furthermore, the EFF claims that companies like Visa and Mastercard are “ill-suited” to assess the options and consequences of cutting off funding for pornographic websites.
How Do Banks Regulate the Adult Sector?
After journalist Nicholas Kristof’s “Children of Pornhub” piece appeared in The New York Times, major credit card companies, such as Visa and Mastercard, tried to stop accepting payments for Pornhub premium and demonetize their cards.
This also makes it more difficult for Pornhub content providers to get their earnings from content and their revenue share back. Due to how terrible a decision such as this was, it is clearly financial censorship. The large tube site had to negotiate an agreement with the necessary payment systems, which took several months, in order to regain some form of payments and monetization that was before to Kristof. Outright financial repression resulted from the credit card companies’ too wide response to a moral panic that showed no consideration for Pornhub’s legitimate interests.
Other Circumstances
Other cases of financial discrimination and censorship are challenging to handle. Alana Evans, for example, experienced financial discrimination when her bank canceled her accounts due to her employment in the pornographic sector.
Her bank, Wells Fargo, sent her a letter letting her know her account will be shut. At first, she thought it was a joke, but afterwards, she found out that Wells Fargo was responsible. In September, Evans wrote as a guest writer for The Daily Beast, “A bank like Wells Fargo could identify which of their customers are involved in legal sex work and remove us all in one fell swoop.”
“As tax-paying employees, we deserve protection from the biases of big banks,” the writer said. Two of the biggest credit card companies, Mastercard and Visa, have already given in to pressure and ceased working with pornographic companies like Pornhub. Because they are more susceptible, the banks are now primarily targeting the employees who are just trying to live. However, I believe that our strength has been shown repeatedly.
At Adult B2B Marketing, we believe that everyone ought to oppose this kind of discrimination against our industry.
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