Remember when Mastercard pressured Steam to remove a bunch of NSFW games? The FTC says that's not cool—sort of

Andrew Ferguson, chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), during the first meeting of the Task Force To Eliminate Fraud in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, March 27, 2026. The task force, led by Vice President JD Vance, is seeking to target federal benefits fraud, intensifying the administration's oversight of federal funds in Democratic-led states. Photographer: Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

The US Federal Trade Commission has sent letters to the CEOs of Mastercard,Visa, PayPal, and Stripe, raising concerns about "financial services companies denying their customers access to services due to their political or religious views," and warning that they could face investigations and "potential enforcement action" if they're found to be doing so.

The move comes less than a year after Valve said Mastercard pressured it to remove a number of NSFW games from Steam. Mastercard countered by saying it "has not evaluated any game or required restrictions of any activity on game creator sites and platforms," and that it allows "all lawful purchases." The net result was a ball of confusion in which Mastercard did not have a direct hand in the removal of games, but payment processors—who use Mastercard's technology and network to actually facilitate transactions—forced the matter because of Mastercard's policies, specifically in that instance, rule 5.12.7, "illegal or brand-damaging transactions."