As of this writing, a bill sits on the desk of Utah’s governor, awaiting his signature to make it state law. That bill includes a provision imposing an excise tax of 2% on adult sites operating in the state.
\n \n \nOver the past year, many merchants have reported earnings that were flat or even a bit down. This is due to three main factors: age verification regulations, click-to-cancel rules, and banks backing away from cross-sales due to regulatory requirements and the rollout of the Visa Acquiring Monitoring Program (VAMP).
\n \n \nIf your platform hosts user-generated content (UGC), then you already know protecting your brand is not merely a matter of good design or strong community guidelines. It requires systems that can verify who your users are, filter what they upload and ensure your business stays on the right side of regulators, payment processors and public opinion.
\n \n \nRunning an adult site, you work hard to create traffic and make sure your funnel is optimal, with the end goal of getting users to make a purchase. Then, right at that critical moment, what do you do? You send them somewhere else. Not good.
\n \n \nFor years, adult performers, creators, producers and adjacent businesses have routinely had their access to basic financial services curtailed — not because they are inherently higher-risk customers, but because a whole category of lawful work has long been treated as unacceptable.
\n \n \nOver the past year, we’ve watched adult merchants weather a variety of disruptions and speedbumps. Some even lost entire revenue streams overnight — simply because they relied too heavily on a single cloud provider that suffered an outage, lacked sufficient redundancy and failover, or otherwise fell short when it came to making sure their business was protected in case of unwelcome surprises.
\n \n \nIt’s a scenario every high-risk merchant dreads. You wake up one morning, check your dashboard and see a massive spike in transaction volume. For a fleeting moment, you’re excited at the premise that something went viral — but then reality sets in. You find thousands of transactions, all for $0.50 and all declined.
\n \n \nEvery January brings that familiar rush of new ideas and big goals. Creators feel ready to overhaul their content, commit to new posting schedules and jump on fresh opportunities.
\n \n \nEvery day, billions of posts, images and videos are uploaded to platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X. As social media has grown, so has the amount of content that must be reviewed — including hate speech, misinformation, deepfakes, violent material and coordinated manipulation campaigns.
\n \n \nAdult platforms have never been more visible to regulators than they are right now. For years, the industry operated in a gray zone: enormous traffic, massive data volume and minimal oversight. Those days are over.
\n \n \nA declined transaction isn’t just a technical error; it’s lost revenue you fought hard to earn. But here’s some good news for adult merchants: The same technology that helps the world’s largest subscription services smoothly process millions of monthly subscriptions is now available to you as well.
\n \n \nWith age verification laws now firmly in place across multiple markets, merchants are asking practical questions: How is this affecting traffic? What happens during onboarding? Which approaches are proving workable in real payment flows?
\n \n \nThe internet has made the world feel small. \r\nCase in point: Adult websites based in the U.S. are now getting letters from regulators demanding compliance with foreign laws, even if they don’t operate in those countries. Meanwhile, some U.S. website operators dealing with the patchwork of state-level age verification laws have considered incorporating offshore in the hopes of avoiding these new obligations — but even operators with no physical presence in the U.S. have been sued or threatened with claims for not following state AV laws.
\n \n \nThe creator management business is booming. Every week, it seems, a new agency emerges, promising to turn creators into stars, automate their fan interactions or triple their revenue through “secret” social strategies. The reality? Many of these agencies are operating with contracts that wouldn’t survive a single serious dispute — if they even have contracts at all.
\n \n \nOver the past year, we’ve seen growing pushback from acquirers on merchants using opt-out cross-sales — also known as negative option offers. This has been especially noticeable in the U.S. In fact, one of our acquirers now declines new merchants during onboarding if an opt-out flow is detected. Existing merchants submitting new URLs with opt-out cross-sales are being asked to remove them.
\n \n \nYou can run the best-managed and most compliant website out there, but that still doesn’t completely shield you from the risks tied to payment disputes. Buyer’s remorse, an unclear billing description or even a simple misunderstanding can lead a customer to dispute a transaction. Accumulate enough disputes, and both your reputation and revenue could be at risk.
\n \n \nIn numerous countries and U.S. states, laws now require platforms to prevent minors from accessing age-inappropriate material. But the need for safeguarding doesn’t end with age verification. Today’s online landscape also places adult companies at uniquely high risk for inadvertently facilitating exploitation, abuse or reputational harm, or of being accused of doing so.
\n \n \nThe rise and proliferation of age verification laws has changed the landscape for the online adult industry. A recent and compelling example is the state of Florida, where Attorney General James Uthmeier has filed multiple complaints against major platforms as well as affiliates accused of violating the state’s AV law.
\n \n \nOver the last year, several of our merchants have found themselves caught up in litigation over compliance with state age verification laws. Recently, Segpay itself was pulled into the spotlight, facing scrutiny over Florida’s AV statute, HB 3. These stories inevitably get picked up by both industry and mainstream news outlets.
\n \n \nFor many merchants, the idea of switching payment processors can feel pretty overwhelming. That’s understandable. After all, downtime can stall sales, recurring subscriptions can suddenly fail, or compliance gaps can put accounts at risk. Operating in a high-risk sector like the adult industry can further amplify the stress of transition.
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