Private Regulation of Morality
As corporations increasingly engage in social governance, financial institutions and other private actors have been exercising their market power to enforce moral frameworks on other businesses and individuals. This Essay examines the phenomenon of “private regulation of morality” — the coercive use of financial and market influence to impose behavioral and ethical norms. Using the 2021 OnlyFans controversy as a case study, this Essay explores how financial institutions pressured the platform to ban sexually explicit content despite its reliance on such material for economic viability. Unlike traditional corporate social responsibility, which mitigates corporate harms, private regulation of morality functions as an indirect method of imposing social values without democratic oversight. This practice raises fundamental concerns regarding financial discrimination, market exclusion, antitrust implications, and the broader risks of corporate actors assuming quasi- regulatory roles. This Essay argues that such practices may threaten market inclusivity, reinforce social inequities, and undermine constitutional protections. Ultimately, it calls for regulatory interventions, enhanced transparency requirements, and antitrust scrutiny to ensure that private morality enforcement does not usurp democratic governance.