Letters have been sent by the US Federal Trade Commission to the CEOs of Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, and Stripe, reminding them that there could be hell to pay if they deny customers access to their services because of said customers’ political or religious views. Potential discrimination against those with Trumpy views are the body’s main concern, but their push could also impact the buying of NSFW games.

Last year, following pressure from payment processing companies like Visa and Mastercard, Itch.io changed their rules regarding adult games, as did Valve. That led to concerns about censorship as a number of games were delisted, taken down, or refused entry to the storefronts. Australian protest group Collective Shout took credit for nudging those payment processors into action.

Enter these recent letters sent off by FTC chairman Andrew N. Ferguson (this guy). “Full participation in commerce and public life necessarily requires that law-abiding individuals can access, and freely participate in, our financial system,” he wrote. Notably, Ferguson specifically mentioned the payment processing services companies like these provide in his letter to Mastercard, urging them not to deny customers such services.

To be clear, though, this is not a man concerned with where he might have to go to buy Santa Rangione’s Horses. “It is inconsistent with American values to deny law-abiding individuals the ability to run their legitimate businesses and feed their families because they attracted the ire of rogue American officials, overzealous activists, or, more worryingly, foreign governments seeking to control public discourse,” Ferguson wrote. He then directly cited an executive order President Trump issued about debanking in August last year.

“Some financial institutions participated in Government-directed surveillance programs targeting persons participating in activities and causes commonly associated with conservatism and the political right following the events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” that order claims, in case you were wondering which persecuted folks Ferguson’s going to bat for here.

Getting back to adult games, this FTC fist-shaking could potentially dissuade payment providers from bowing to pressure from groups like Collective Shout. On the other hand, Collective Shout are an Australian group founded by a conservative anti-abortion women’s rights campaigner and have worked in the past with the similar American right-wing National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) anti-porn group.

Given Ferguson’s focus on ensuring debanking doesn’t hit conservative people specifically, it’s hard to see pressure put on payment providers by right-wing anti-porn groups being threatened. It’s not impossible by any stretch, but I’m not holding my breath.