It's not necessarily Itch's fault, sure they can handle it better. But the main fault is and will still be Collective Shout.
It's in Australia, a democratic country where capitalism at least partially a thing, and Mastercard and VISA are international companies, meaning just because one country does have such system, won't mean everywhere does. But to gain profit and because Steam and Itch are also international. They have to either ignore (losing customers as well) or enforce it (keeping customers happy and letting them fuel their money greed), never expect a company like that to just ignore it btw
Oh, I understand itch isn't necessarily at fault, but that doesn't mean they aren't at fault for their own response.
They don't get a pass simply bc they felt they had no choice. They made the decision to play it safe above all else. Whether they 'felt they had to' is irrelevant to the cold hard fact that they threw creators and consumers under the bus by bowing down to these hypocrite 'activists' and payment processor scum who think they have the right to dictate how we should be able to create and consume media.
Frankly, i have next to know sympathy as far as that's concerned and doubt they care about anyone's feelings on the matter so long as revenue was secure.
In an ideal world where capitalism and free markets worked as intended, a move like this would mean itch would die, but it's not so in that sense, they have no reason to care if/unless they felt it where it hurt.
So, while I recognize and understand itch's position, that doesn't change anything when the damage has been done.