Credit Cards Pull Out Of FraternityX And SlamRush After “Complaint About Explicit Content”
The war on porn continues today, with the latest targets being gay porn studios FraternityX and SlamRush (both of which are owned by the same parent company, OLB Media). According to a message sent to Str8Up and other affiliates by OLB, someone filed an “anonymous complaint” to Mastercard about “explicit content” on FraternityX and SlamRush, and as a result, credit card processors have stopped accepting payments for the two sites. In other words, if you wanted to join FratX or SlamRush using your Mastercard or Visa today, you can’t. Here’s the email:
Last week, MasterCard received an anonymous complaint about explicit content on the Fraternityx and SlamRush websites which caused our credit card processors to pause our ability to accept new members. We are now in the process of re-editing the videos and we will be re-launching both sites on new domains. Both Fraternityx and Slamrush will continue to update on their regular schedule. This issue affects Fraternityx and Slamrush ONLY. We sincerely apologize for what we hope will only be a brief interruption in processing for these 2 sites, and rest assured we are doing everything possible to get this resolved as quickly as possible.
When reached for comment regarding why all credit card processing is down after the complaint was initially only sent to Mastercard, an OLB rep replied to Str8Up, “We start accepting new joins again with our backup processor, but we won’t know for sure until tomorrow or Friday. It is messy and complicated.”
It’s not known what exactly will have to be edited out of the studios’ videos, and it’s not known what type of “explicit content” or which scene(s) specifically were included in the complaint. Given all of the fictional drug use at SlamRush—which led to performer Grayson Lange disavowing his work for the studio last year—and the rampant “hazing” style orgies at FratX, someone filing a complaint isn’t a surprise. What’s not clear is why Mastercard decided to take action now, after both studios have been flirting with such controversial themes for years (and in FratX’s case, nearly a decade).
Nearly one year ago, Mastercard and Visa stopped processing payments for MindGeek’s Pornhub following a New York Times article detailing the presence of child abuse and revenge porn on the site. Then, Visa and Discover temporarily pulled out of MindGeek’s studio sites, including Sean Cody and Men, while an “investigation” was conducted on the company’s content. This led to the removal of over 2,000 Sean Cody videos—which remain gone today—likely due to some sort of record-keeping issue, although the studio has refused to comment or explain where the videos went. And just a few months ago, porn behemoth OnlyFans announced an outright ban on all adult content (likely due to pressure from the banks), but then ultimately reversed that decision after public outcry and support for sex workers.
Current members of FraternityX and SlamRush will continue to have access to the sites, but anyone seeking to join now (until content is edited and the credit card processors come back) will have to use a gift card.
