The Ban List · formally, the Payment Policy Index
Every payment app that bans adult creators, in their own words
Each service in this table bans adult content somewhere in its terms. Most people only find that out after their account is frozen. The links go to the actual policies, and the date on each row is when we last checked it.
The short version
There is no mainstream payment app that allows adult-content income. This isn't a grey area. The bans are written into their terms, detection is automated, and the usual ending is a closed account with your money stuck inside it. Whatever a friend has gotten away with so far, treat every app in this table as off limits.
| Service | Adult content | What their policy says | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| PayPal | Banned | The Acceptable Use Policy prohibits transactions involving "certain sexually oriented materials or services." In practice PayPal disallows digital adult content entirely — downloads, subscriptions, cam services — with narrow exceptions for some physical goods in some markets. Venmo (owned by PayPal) applies the same stance. | PayPal AUP |
| Stripe | Banned | The Prohibited & Restricted Businesses list restricts "adult services" (including pay-per-view and live-chat) and "pornography and other mature audience content… designed for the purpose of sexual gratification" — and explicitly extends this to AI-generated content meeting the same description. | Stripe list |
| Square | Banned | Square's terms place adult entertainment among prohibited business categories; adult-oriented businesses face some of the platform's harshest restrictions. | Square ToS |
| Cash App | Banned | The Acceptable Use Policy prohibits "pornography and other obscene materials" and "sites offering any sexually-related services such as prostitution, escorts, pay-per-view, adult live" content. | Cash App AUP |
| Venmo | Banned | Subject to PayPal's acceptable-use regime; accounts associated with adult work are routinely closed. Creators report permanent removal without appeal. | Venmo agreement |
| Wise | Banned | The Acceptable Use Policy prohibits "pornography and other visual content depicting explicitly sexual acts" and "services of sexual nature (webcam shows, live chats, prostitution, escorts, etc.)". Note: Wise's policy carves out some lawful card spending; receiving adult income through Wise remains against policy. | Wise AUP |
| Revolut | Banned | Revolut's prohibited business activities include "dating, escort, pornographic or other adult entertainment." Adult businesses are excluded from Revolut Business merchant accounts. | Revolut list |
Why does every mainstream payment app ban the same thing?
It's not a moral crusade. It's card-network economics. Visa and Mastercard classify adult content as high-risk because it attracts more chargebacks and fraud, and since 2024 Visa's Integrity Risk Program has charged acquirers US$950 per year for every high-risk merchant they carry, with heavy compliance duties on top. Mainstream processors built for volume would rather exclude the whole category than deal with that. The companies that do take adult businesses (CCBill, Segpay, Verotel) charge 10–15% instead of 3% because someone has to pay for it.
What this means in practice
- Never route adult income through a personal payment app — not for tips, not "just this once," not relabelled as something else. Mislabelling transactions is itself a terms violation and, at scale, a fraud signal.
- On-platform creators mostly don't have this problem. OnlyFans and similar platforms handle card processing themselves and pay you out by bank transfer or adult-friendly e-wallet. See the Australian payout guide.
- Selling off-platform is where this table really matters. There, the answer is a high-risk processor, and it costs real money. The off-platform guide has the numbers.
Changelog
- — First published. All seven policies verified against provider sources.