Glossary · compliance
specialty merchant
A merchant-category classification under the Visa and Mastercard card-network compliance frameworks that applies elevated underwriting, content-review, and fee structures to adult-content businesses (along with other historically high-risk categories). The classification predates the consumer internet and is the governance vector through which post-2020 adult-industry policy changes flowed.
Used in
Encyclopedia entries that reference this term.
- The post-2020 payment-processor reordering of adult media — How a sequence of Mastercard, Visa, and platform-policy decisions in 2020–2021 restructured the compliance, distribution, and labour landscape of the legitimate adult industry — and what the new equilibrium looks like five years later.
Full glossary index (70)
All terms in the Step Secrets Editorial Glossary. Each is a standalone reference page.
- AggregateRating
- Aylo
- C2PA
- compliance-as-a-service
- creator platform
- deepfake
- edge cache
- gonzo
- IndexNow
- KYC
- MindGeek
- NCII
- partner program
- pcombo
- performer-led brand
- RTA
- scenario-led production
- sitemap
- studio-tier
- §2257
- tube site
- XBIZ
- OnlyFans
- Fansly
- PPV
- partner-program traffic
- creator economy
- CFR Part 75
- primary producer
- secondary producer
- Free Speech Coalition
- age assurance
- AVN Awards
- XBIZ Awards
- ARCOM
- Online Safety Act
- JuSchG
- feature
- CPM
- CDN
- KJM
- studio network
- compliance documentation
- scene library
- distribution stack
- verified bot
- AVN
- AEE
- Bing Webmaster Tools
- GSC
- Schema.org
- JSON-LD
- rich snippet
- helpful content update
- AI Overview
- Hidden Gems
- pay-site
- mojeek
- BoodiGo
- Common Crawl
- Yandex Webmaster
- Pornhub
- XVideos
- WGCZ Holding
- YouPorn
- IndexNow protocol
- Naver
- Seznam
- AdsBot-Google