Speed dating firm scrambling after being dumped by payment provider

Spoiler: It’s Stripe. It’s disappointing to see the kind of power companies worth $100B or more wield in modern societies. It means people cannot truly have freedom because they are subject to an arbitrary set of restrictions that can be decided on a whim by some invisible person and you get no transparency or recourse. Regulations are needed to defend individual freedoms.

> "The 'reputational risk' category has proven particularly controversial, as it can lead to exclusions of legal businesses based on subjective judgments rather than clear regulatory requirements. This has affected industries ranging from adult content platforms to legal cannabis businesses in jurisdictions where they operate lawfully. While payment providers are private companies acting in their own commercial interests-managing risk, maintaining banking relationships, and protecting their brands-there's growing recognition that as digital payments become essential infrastructure for participating in the modern economy, questions of access and potential discrimination deserve public policy attention. The tension between a company's right to choose its customers and concerns about essential service access remains an evolving debate, but it remains in the early stages."

Yup, far too much pressure to use cutting off financial access to harm businesses that are disliked by those in power but are not doing anything evil.

I can see a reason they might be skittish, though: Ashley Madison. Note what she's doing: ENM speed dating. I very much doubt she's in a position to actually verify the E part.

Speed dating is a scuzzy industry and would seem likely to get chargebacks. They often lie about who will be attending and what the criteria for setting people up with potential matches is. There are a lot of unsatisfied customers.