God Help Us: OnlyFans Puts Porn Back on Its Platform Now That Funding Is Secured
The website OnlyFans, which last week said it would ban sexually explicit content on its platform, backtracked Wednesday and said the porn floodgates would remain open.
“Thank you to everyone for making your voices heard. We have secured assurances necessary to support our diverse creator community and have suspended the planned October 1 policy change. OnlyFans stands for inclusion and we will continue to provide a home for all creators,” the site announced on Twitter.
Thank you to everyone for making your voices heard.
We have secured assurances necessary to support our diverse creator community and have suspended the planned October 1 policy change.
OnlyFans stands for inclusion and we will continue to provide a home for all creators.
— OnlyFans (@OnlyFans) August 25, 2021
According to ABC News, OnlyFans said in a statement that the porn ban was “no longer required due to banking partners’ assurances that OnlyFans can support all genres of creators.”
On Thursday, the site had said a ban was “necessary to comply with the requirements of these financial institutions and are the only way to help ensure the long-term sustainability of OnlyFans.”
The proposed ban upset some.
“Not having the online outlet is going to hinder and harm a lot of people. Online is much safer, particularly for trans and gender-nonconforming folks,” said LaLa Zannell, trans justice campaign manager for the American Civil Liberties Union.
The Adult Performance Artists Guild said the ban would cause untold harm, according to Variety.
“We instantly recognize the financial despair and destruction this will cause our community,” the union said in a statement.
“As anti-porn organizations celebrate, we brace ourselves for the crisis this will likely cause. Workers in our industry have families to care for, and this change will push many into potential homelessness.”
Brian Gross, a porn industry publicist, said the ban would stifle the worth ethic of “content creators.”
“You have really successful, hard-working content creators who put in a lot of time, effort and work and have a consumer at the other end who wants to purchase it. You see article after article about how successful it is, and for some reason the outside world doesn’t want it recognized,” he said, according to The New York Times.
OnlyFans, which says it has 130 million users, allows creators to sell their own material to subscribers. The site takes 20 percent of the money, according to the BBC.
Although OnlyFans says it bars minors from having accounts, it has been criticized for its laxity in enforcing those rules.
The BBC found multiple instances of children under 18 appearing in explicit videos.
“It is increasingly clear that OnlyFans is being used by children,” said Simon Bailey, child protection lead on the U.K. National Police Chiefs’ Council.
“The company is not doing enough to put in place the safeguards that prevent children exploiting the opportunity to generate money, but also for children to be exploited.”
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
