“Thanks for Making Us Popular, Sex Workers, Now It’s Time to Remove Sexually Explicit Content From Our Service,” Says OnlyFans

I don’t know about the rest of you, but when I think about OnlyFans I think about sexually explicit content. While that’s not the only thing the subscription service offers, it’s certainly benefitted from sex workers using it, especially since so many platforms refuse to realize that sex work is viable work that deserves to be treated as such.

Basically, OnlyFans has become synonymous with sex work, and I’m fairly certain the folks behind OnlyFans not only knew that but used it to gain more notoriety.

Which makes today’s news so frustrating—more so when you realize just how often platforms decide to turn their back on sex workers at the drop of a hat.

Because much like Tumblr (and countless other platforms), there comes a time where these creative spaces look at adult content and say, “Eh, that’s enough of that.” And trust me, it was shitty when all those other platforms did it, but OnlyFans? Really?!

The audacity.

So according to a statement provided to Variety, OnlyFans is doing this “to comply with the requests of our banking partners and payout providers.”

Oh.

I see.

Effective Oct. 1, 2021, “OnlyFans will prohibit the posting of any content containing sexually explicit conduct,” the company said in a statement. “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.”

According to OnlyFans, creators will continue to be allowed to post content containing nudity “as long as it is consistent with our Acceptable Use Policy.” The site’s terms currently allow nudity except in the case of content featuring public nudity recorded in or broadcast from a jurisdiction where public nudity is illegal.

“We will be sharing more details in the coming days and we will actively support and guide our creators through this change in content guidelines,” the company said. “OnlyFans remains committed to the highest levels of safety and content moderation of any social platform. All creators are verified prior to being able to upload any content to OnlyFans, and all uploaded content is checked by automated systems and human moderators.”

Evolving content guidelines to continue to host an inclusive community? That’s a lot of words for “we’re choosing investors and advertisers over the sex workers who took our brand further than we ever imagined.”

Like many (and I mean many) have pointed out, not only did this not work well in Tumblr’s favor when they declared “no adult content” after years of basking in it, but OnlyFans is DEFINITELY more known for adult content than Tumblr ever was.

I suppose we should’ve seen this coming as OnlyFans recently launched a free SFW streaming service. Again, you are absolutely allowed to use OnlyFans to share SFW content, but it should not come at the expense of NSFW creatives, especially from a platform that is KNOWN for providing that kind of content.

OnlyFans would not be what it is today without sex workers.

Period.

The timing of this is so heartless, too. So many sex workers have turned to OnlyFans, not just because they could, but because the pandemic changed what the job landscape looks like. Having a way to create content, safely, at home, has become more important than ever these days—something else OnlyFans has benefitted from, I’m sure.

To alter your terms in a way that harms the folks who got you where you are today in the middle of an ongoing pandemic is despicable.

I guess all that’s left is to see what these “new terms” are that OnlyFans implements just so we know how much angrier we can get at a service that profited so much off of sex workers.

(image: OnlyFans)

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