April 19, 2021
Last week, Mastercard, Inc., announced new rules for banks processing credit card payments to pornography websites, designed to combat child pornography and sex trafficking. Unfortunately, for a country whose corporate overlords refuse (or are unable) to distinguish between intrinsic evil and prudential policy judgments, this promising development will likely also serve as a beta test to further attack conservative groups.
In December, Mastercard and Visa banned the use of their credit cards on the Pornhub website after The New York Times ran a column by Nicholas Kristof detailing the availability of child abuse and rape videos on that site. Mastercard explained its decision by confirming that Pornhub, a subsidiary of MindGeek, had violated the company’s standards by providing “unlawful content.” Visa quickly followed suit, announcing that it too had instructed “the financial institutions who serve MindGeek to suspend processing of payments through the Visa n
Mastercard Says Banks Must Show ‘Documented Consent’ For Adult Content Following Pornhub Controversy
MasterCard on April 14 announced it is changing its rules and standards for banks that process payments for sellers of adult content.
The company announced the new rules in a blog post on Wednesday and said that banks will now have to ensure that sellers require “clear, unambiguous and documented consent” in adult content.
“This month, we are extending our existing Specialty Merchant Registration requirements. The banks that connect merchants to our network will need to certify that the seller of adult content has effective controls in place to monitor, block and, where necessary, take down all illegal content,” John Verdeschi, Mastercard’s senior vice president of customer engagement and performance, said in the post.
In this Issue:
United States
1. FTC abandons challenge to Philadelphia hospital merger.
On March 1, 2021, the FTC, suffering its first loss in a hospital merger challenge since 2016, voted 4-0 to end its effort to stop the proposed $599 million merger of Philadelphia-area health care systems Jefferson Health and Albert Einstein Healthcare Network. The FTC’s decision comes about a month and a half after the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office dropped out of the joint challenge.
The FTC challenged the merger on the basis that it would hurt competition in the Philadelphia-area health care market, and after a defeat at the district court, told the appellate court that the judge had applied “faulty economic reasoning.” The FTC alleged that a combined network would control over 60% of the market for inpatient general acute care services in and around North Philadelphia and at least 45% of the market for those services in and around Montgomery County. The FTC alleged that t
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Two recent antitrust decisions by federal courts offer cautionary tales for businesses and trade associations. The cases involve common antitrust trouble spots: complaints from customers, “bad emails,” and competitor boycotts through what may seem like legitimate trade association activity.
Responding to Customer Complaints
In the first case,
American Contractors Supply, LLC, v. HD Supply Constructions Supply, Ltd., the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals considered antitrust claims that arose from a complaint from a distributor to its longtime supplier. The distributor, White Cap, had served as the exclusive distributor in Florida for Meadow Burke, a manufacturer of specialized equipment used in “tilt” concrete wall construction. After White Cap learned that Meadow Burke was planning on doing business with another distributor in Florida, White Cap’s account manager called up his contact at Meadow Burke to express
Thursday, April 8, 2021
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
On March 1, 2021, the FTC, suffering its first loss in a hospital merger challenge since 2016, voted 4-0 to end its effort to stop the proposed $599 million merger of Philadelphia-area health care systems Jefferson Health and Albert Einstein Healthcare Network. The FTC’s decision comes about a month and a half after the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office dropped out of the joint challenge.
The FTC challenged the merger on the basis that it would hurt competition in the Philadelphia-area health care market, and after a defeat at the district court, told the appellate court that the judge had applied “faulty economic reasoning.” The FTC alleged that a combined network would control over 60% of the market for inpatient general acute care services in and around North Philadelphia and at least 45% of the market for those services in and around Montgomery County. The FTC alleged that the defendants also control