WASHINGTON — Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson sent letters on Thursday to the CEOs of PayPal, Stripe, Visa and Mastercard, warning them against debanking practices — including denying customers access to services based on lawful business activities perceived as high-risk.
“It is inconsistent with American values to deny law-abiding individuals the ability to run their legitimate businesses and feed their families because they attracted the ire of rogue American officials, overzealous activists, or, more worryingly, foreign governments seeking to control public discourse,” the letters read. “That is why President Trump’s August 7, 2025, Executive Order on debanking makes clear that it is unacceptable to debank law-abiding citizens due to ‘political affiliations, religious beliefs, or lawful business activities.’”
As XBIZ reported last year, that executive order prohibits banks, savings associations, credit unions or other financial service providers from restricting access to accounts, loans or other services on the basis of a customer’s lawful business activities “that the financial service provider disagrees with or disfavors for political reasons.”
Following Trump’s executive order, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a report on debanking, in which it named adult entertainment as one of several sectors facing discrimination for engaging in activities contrary to banks’ “values.”
Ferguson’s letters inform the targeted companies that deplatforming such customers, or denying them access to financial products or services, could lead to an FTC investigation and potential enforcement action.
Possible Pressure on Banks via Card Brands
Notably, the letters to Visa and Mastercard also cite “the conduct of payments providers and payment networks that turn a blind eye when their financial institution members debank consumers for these reasons.” Ferguson calls it “critical” that the card brands not countenance unlawful debanking by members — such as banks — that process transactions on their networks.
“Consumers cannot reasonably avoid this harm, particularly where, as is almost always the case, the First Amendment-protected activity that triggered the adverse action against them had no logical connection to, or material bearing on, their commercial relationship with the payment provider or network,” Ferguson writes.
This deputization of the card brands to help bring banks in line with the executive order could place additional pressure on some financial institutions to change practices leading to debanking.
Such additional leverage could prove significant, especially since it is unclear how much direct intervention can be expected by bank regulators such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the National Credit Union Administration.
Proposed new rules are poised to prohibit those agencies from taking action against institutions they supervise for doing business with people or companies engaged in “politically disfavored but lawful business activities perceived to present reputation risk,” but those rules will not stop banks from making decisions regarding their customers in a way deemed “consistent with safety and soundness.” This leaves broad leeway for banks to continue discriminatory or exclusionary practices toward adult industry creators and businesses.
It also remains far from clear whether, despite being named in the OCC report, the adult industry will be considered a priority for enforcing anti-debanking rules. Attitudes toward the industry within the Trump administration are far from positive, and language in the executive order makes it clear that the administration is mainly motivated by protecting conservative and right-wing people and groups from debanking.
