Visa and Mastercard have been accused of serious cases against their role in facilitating payments linked to illegal content on the adult website, OnlyFans.
According to allegations, by a compliance-experienced whistleblower, these two credit card giants did nothing to prevent the illicit activities happening on the platform, such as child sexual abuse material and sex trafficking.
Whistleblower Complaint Reveals Serious Allegations
A senior compliance expert in the banking and credit card industries has filed a whistleblower complaint against Visa and Mastercard with the financial crimes unit of the U.S. Treasury, known as FinCEN, citing that both card companies continue to process payments for illegal content on OnlyFans despite repeated warnings. The whistleblower, Reuters reports, knew as of 2021 that such activities were being done.
The complaint reveals that payment networks deliberately avoided implementing proper anti-money laundering technology to detect illegal monetary transactions—they "willfully failed" in such implementation.
Three US government departments including the Justice Department and Homeland Security Department and the US Treasury filed the complaint in January 2023.
The said complaint referenced a conversation between the federal agents and the credit card companies. It stated that the agents verified that there was child sexual abuse material existing on the said platform and showed them evidence of suspected sex trafficking.
The complaint submitted by the whistleblower claims that the two companies failed to act against the matter, given the concrete evidence.
Illegal Content and Financial Transactions
The heart of the complaint centers around the financial transactions that Visa and Mastercard process on behalf of OnlyFans, a platform known for its subscription-based content model.
With millions of users and content creators, the site has garnered significant attention due to allegations of illegal content being uploaded, including sexually explicit material involving minors.
She cites the case of the direct handling of such proceeds by Visa and Mastercard, processing payments for the content creators monetizing these illicit videos and images. The responses to the allegations by both Visa and Mastercard are that they do not accept liability as they are compliant and take measures to ensure that their networks remain free of illegal activity.
Pressure on Tech Giants Over Illicit Content
Though Visa and Mastercard have dismissed the claims, the pressure mounted by global regulators and law enforcement is undeniable. The U.S. government, among other international authorities, has questioned online platforms like OnlyFans over their facilitation of the sale of child sexual abuse material and engaging in other exploitation activities.
The whistleblower complaint is part of a larger movement toward holding companies accountable for their role in the spread of illegal content. This is not the first time that major payment providers have faced scrutiny over transactions tied to adult content platforms.
In 2020, Visa and Mastercard blocked transactions for Pornhub, another adult site, in response to similar allegations.
Mastercard and Visa's Compliance Efforts
In the wake of these allegations, Visa and Mastercard have pointed to their internal compliance efforts to prevent illegal activity. Visa asserts that it terminates relationships with any institutions or merchants that fail to meet its compliance standards, while Mastercard emphasizes that it works with its partners to act against identified illegal activities.
Despite these claims, the whistleblower indicates that both parties have not effectively done much concerning the rampant proliferation of illegal content on OnlyFans.
The complaints also hint at the fact that the companies are prone to shifting the responsibility onto the banks, even though they continue to process payments related to illegal content.
The whistleblower goes on to point out that such "business as usual" behavior is symptomatic of a much bigger problem in the financial sector in relation to policing illicit online activities.
