NicoNico temporarily suspends handling of Mastercard, possibly due to disagreement over 'cat video'

Niconico, which provides video services such as Niconico Douga and Niconico Live, has announced that it will temporarily suspend some Mastercard payments. The reason for the suspension and the outlook for resumption of handling have not been disclosed.

[Important] Request for payment suspension and change procedures for some paid services using Mastercard® | Niconico Info
https://blog.nicovideo.jp/niconews/207309.html

The official NicoNico announcement is as follows.

Thank you for always using NicoNico.

Due to various circumstances, we have decided to temporarily suspend payments for some paid services using Mastercard® from around 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 8, 2023.
We apologize for the sudden notice. Deeply apologize.

In the announcement, NicoNico did not reveal the reason for the temporary suspension, and only replied in the FAQ regarding the prospect of resuming handling, saying, ``We are unable to provide an answer at this time.''

It has been revealed that there was a recent disagreement between NicoNico and Mastercard over ``cat videos''.

The 'cat video' in question was published by eiz5963 and was titled 'I found a dirty kitten and decided to abuse it (first cat).' The original story is a ``Cat Abuse Copy and Paste'' that casually describes how to carefully take care of a cat that was found , and although the content is far from abuse, it was made private on October 7, 2023.

According to the email from Niconico that eiz5963 published in the profile section of his user page, the delisting was a request from Mastercard.

Thank you for always using Niconico.

Regarding video content posted on this service,
Due to a non-disclosure request from the credit card brand (MasterCard),
We have taken the following actions.

-------------------------------------------------- ----------
Correspondence contents:
Non-disclosure of target content

Reason for support:
Disclosed in accordance with a request from the credit card brand (MasterCard) [There are videos containing animal abuse, child abuse, self-harm, and inappropriate adult content, which are prohibited products that are illegal or damage the brand]

Target content:
I found a dirty kitten so I decided to abuse it (the first one)
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm24461077

supplement:
Regarding this matter, we have not implemented a ban on video posting for a certain period of time.
-------------------------------------------------- ----------

If there is a point or request from a credit card brand as in this case,
Credit card usage across NicoNico may be restricted at the discretion of the credit card brand.
We appreciate your understanding and understanding as we work to address this matter.

However, regarding this matter, our company doubts that the content pointed out by the credit card brand is accurate.
We will request the credit card brand to confirm the facts and re-examine the content.
If there is a request from the credit card brand to withdraw the response,
Please contact us again and we will restore the video.

However, it is up to the credit card brand to decide whether or not the video can be restored.
Please be aware that we cannot guarantee a date for video recovery or a response.

If you have any objections or inquiries regarding this response, please contact the Niconico administrator using the form below within 3 days including the day you received this notice.

The reason the email states, ``We also doubt that the content pointed out by the credit card brand is accurate'' is likely because Niconico is aware of the aforementioned ``cat abuse copy and paste,'' but in the end, , the video was deleted on November 8, 2023, one month after it was made private.

It is unclear why the video, which had been kept private by Niconico in response to a 'non-disclosure request' from Mastercard, was ultimately deleted.

This case is not the first time that a credit card company has 'censored' the content of a platform. With Mastercard immediately suspending payments , Pornhub was forced to delete all of its more than 13 million movies, approximately 10 million of which were made by unauthorized users, in order to resume payments.

It has been pointed out that the suspension of Visa and Mastercard payments to Pornhub amounts to ``de facto censorship'', and there are voices of concern about the hardships of sex workers due to the suspension of payments - GIGAZINE

In the 2022 Pornhub child pornography-related trial, Visa became the defendant in the trial after it was ruled that ``Visa helped Pornhub monetize child sexual abuse content. '' As liability is sought after, payment providers are cracking down on the content handled by their platforms.

In 2022 , DMM terminated its contract with Mastercard, and Pixiv Co., Ltd. also issued a notice regarding the 'Terms and Conditions for International Card Brands, etc.' in its notice of revised terms of use regarding transactions involving payments within its own services. There has been a series of news reports that suggest that the pressure on companies to regulate content is increasing.

In addition to these censorship acts, Mastercard is also viewed as problematic for selling purchasing data collected from users. The following article explains the problems with Mastercard's data sales.

Electronic Frontier Foundation agrees with the claim that ``Mastercard should stop selling data collected from credit card users'' - GIGAZINE

A forum related to this article has been set up on the GIGAZINE official Discord server. Anyone can write freely, so please feel free to comment!

• Discord | 'What brand of credit card do you use to pay for online services?' | GIGAZINE
https://discord.com/channels/1037961069903216680/1172112135740981289