Signaling a massive change for the service, OnlyFans announced on Thursday that it will be banning sexually explicit content on its platform starting in October.
“In order to ensure the long-term sustainability of the platform, and to continue to host an inclusive community of creators and fans, we must evolve our content guidelines,” the company said in a statement. According to CNN, OnlyFans added that the changes were motivated by requests from “banking partners and payout providers.”
While OnlyFans acts as a social media platform that allows content creators to share messages, images, videos, and live streams for free or behind a paywall, it is “best known as a haven for sex workers and influencers wanting to promote and sell access to adult content.”
CNN added that OnlyFans stated that nudity would still be permitted “as it is consistent with [OnlyFan’s] Acceptable Use Policy,” despite the upcoming ban of “the posting of any content containing sexually explicit conduct.”
Kim Kelly, a journalist who reports on labor rights issues, tweeted, “OnlyFans would be nothing without the sex workers whose labor built it up into a major platform.”
“Now it’s tossing them aside, and removing a vital source of income from a population of workers who are disproportionately marginalized and have no protections under U.S. labor law,” Kelly added. “This is absolutely a labor issue and a workers’ rights issue and should be covered as such. Solidarity with SWers now and always.”
This is absolutely a labor issue and a workers’ rights issue and should be covered as such. Solidarity with SWers now and always.
— Kim Kelly (@GrimKim) August 19, 2021
With the changes coming after pressure from banking and payment organizations, this move may be because OnlyFans is reportedly “trying to raise money from outside investors at a valuation of more than $1 billion,” according to Bloomberg.
The announcement also came after BBC News “approached the company for its response to the leaked documents, and concerns about its handling of accounts posting illegal content,” after the British outlet uncovered internal documents which showed “that OnlyFans allows moderators to give multiple warnings to accounts that post illegal content on its online platform before deciding to close them.”
“Described as a ‘compliance manual,’ the documents also show that staff are asked to be more lenient towards successful accounts on the British content-sharing service,” the BBC explained. “Moderation specialists and child protection experts say this shows OnlyFans — which is best known for hosting pornography – has some ‘tolerance’ for accounts posting illegal content.”
OnlyFans has become increasingly mainstream in recent years, with public figures like Bella Thorne and Cardi B setting up accounts. In April, American rapper and internet personality, Bhad Bhabie — whose real name is Danielle Bregoli and is best known as the “Cash Me Outside” girl who famously appeared on “Dr. Phil” — claimed to have broken an OnlyFans record, making $1 million in just 6 hours on the platform.
In an Instagram post to her 17.1 million followers, Bregoli wrote “not bad for 6 hours,” and “we broke the f*** out of that onlyfans record.” Included was a screenshot, apparently of her OnlyFans account finances, showing an income for “subscriptions” of $757,526.08, “tips” of $5,502.35, and “messages” of $267,675, amounting to a total of $1,030,703.43.
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Source: Dailywire
