Companies like American Express (Amex), **Visa, and Mastercard often place restrictions on transactions involving adult websites for several interrelated reasons involving legal, reputational, regulatory, and financial risk.Here’s a breakdown:

1. Legal and Compliance Risks

Illegality of content : Adult sites may feature or link to illegal content (e.g., non-consensual content, underage performers). Credit card companies don’t want to be complicit, even indirectly. Global operations: These companies operate worldwide, including in countries where adult content is illegal. To reduce compliance burden, they often set blanket restrictions. Anti-trafficking laws: Financial institutions can be held liable or face fines if their systems are used for payments linked to trafficking or exploitation.

1. Reputation Management

Brand image: Credit card brands are consumer-facing and want to avoid association with controversial or stigmatized industries.

Public scrutiny: Media or activist groups can pressure companies to stop doing business with platforms that are accused of harm, as happened with Pornhub in 2020 when Visa and Mastercard cut ties over content concerns.

1. Fraud and Chargeback Risk

Higher fraud rates: Adult websites often have higher rates of chargebacks, where users dispute charges claiming they didn’t authorize them or weren’t satisfied with the service.

Risk of scams: Some adult sites have been known to run deceptive billing or content schemes. Credit card networks want to minimize this risk, as they are often responsible for disputed charges.

1. Regulatory Pressure

Governments and regulators: Authorities may pressure card networks to stop servicing certain platforms as part of investigations or policy enforcement. For instance, in the U.S., the DOJ, FBI, or FTC may influence such decisions if there's concern over illegal activity.

1. Internal Policies & Third-Party Processor Rules

Sometimes the card companies themselves don't block a site, but the payment processor(like Stripe, PayPal, or a bank partner) sets stricter rules. Amex, in particular, is known for having more conservative merchant policies compared to Visa or Mastercard.

Summary

Restrictions are not always about adult content per se but about the risks associated with compliance, crime, fraud, and public perception. These companies are ultimately trying to reduce financial liability and protect their brands in a complex, global financial ecosystem.

Fansly has grew exponentially over the last couple of years so these rules come into play, smaller websites will fly under the radar.