Following OnlyFans’ announcement last week that the pay-for-content site will ban explicit content from October 1, creators have slammed the company and are planning their migration to other sites.
Following pressure from credit card companies and banks, who are toughening rules about payments for adult content, OnlyFans said it will “prohibit the posting of any content containing sexually-explicit conduct.”
Under the new policy, banned content includes:
- “Actual or simulated sexual intercourse”
- “Any exhibition of the anus or genitals of any person which is extreme or offensive”
- “Actual or simulated material depicting bodily fluids commonly secreted during sexual conduct”
This kind of content helped make OnlyFans a huge success, with many creators depending on being able to post it for their livelihoods. Many adult content creators have slammed the move as they scramble to migrate to rival platforms.
One creator, Freya Dearest, said she was moving her content from OnlyFans to the Fansly, SextPanther and Mygirlfund sites. “While I’m new to the industry I’m honestly disgusted by OnlyFans’ decision to ban adult content,” she tweeted. “Their success was thanks to the adult industry.”
Siri Dahl, a well-known adult content creator, tweeted: “Onlyfans has been 80 percent of my income since January 2020. It’s helped me pay off my student loans, buy a house and build retirement savings. It’s the reason I paid out over $25k to self-employed contractors last year and could assist friends and family financially through this pandemic.”
“Taking away our income doesn’t stop child abuse or trafficking, it just hurts workers”
Siri Dahl
Dahl created spoof ‘LonelyPlans’ merchandise, and is donating the profits to adult creator rights organzsations.
She said: “Sex work is work. We are business owners. Taking away our income doesn’t stop child abuse or trafficking, it just hurts workers and causes further societal and economic harm.”
Smaller adult content-friendly creator sites such as the three mentioned, plus the newly-launched Blisss, PornRocket and JustForFans, will be hoping to attract creators looking for alternative platforms in the wake of the OnlyFans ban.
Another beneficiary could be Twitter, which allows porn on its platform. The social media giant is expected to launch its Super Follows function soon, which will facilitate paid-for content and is reportedly set to have a dedicated ‘adult content’ category.
The Free Speech Coalition, which campaigns for creators in the adult industry, said: that “the removal of adult content from OnlyFans will not stop adult content. Sex workers, and those in the adult industry more broadly, have learned to survive in hostile conditions. But that doesn’t mean that people won’t be hurt, that lives and businesses won’t be destroyed, and that millions of dollars of sex worker income won’t disappear.”
When announcing the ban, OnlyFans said: “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. Creators will continue to be allowed to post content containing nudity as long as it is consistent with our Acceptable Use Policy.”
Or, perhaps to consider it another way — OnlyFans is now a ‘safe space’ for investors worried by its explicit side.
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