How A Media Pressure Campaign Got Porn Back On OnlyFans

Though any kind of creator, from fitness gurus to chefs to makeup artists, can post content on OnlyFans, the U.K.-based video-sharing site is primarily known for its pornographic performers.

Since its 2016 inception, OnlyFans has operated as a profit-sharing arrangement, taking 20% of everything content creators earn from subscriptions and paid chats. The company claims more than two million creators collectively earned $2 billion last year from 130 million “fans.” But a huge portion of that revenue came from adult content.

As the New York Post recently reported, the site’s top-ten highest-earning accounts make anywhere from $4 million to over $29 million annually, and all specialize in some kind of sexual content. Even some mainstream public figures have gotten in on the action. Former Disney Channel star Bella Thorne notoriously made $1 million in one day off of the provocative videos she shared on the site.

These are the kind of headlines that have reportedly kept mainstream investors away from the company despite a $1 billion valuation. As a recent data dive from Axios highlighted, “Some investors say they could get past the porn, but worry that the company’s reputation would prevent it from attracting brand partners.”

That seemed to leave OnlyFans no choice but to boot the smut if it wanted to go mainstream.

From Adult Content to Mainstream

On August 17, OnlyFans revealed plans to begin competing with its more respectable mainstream big brothers like Netflix and Prime with a new streaming platform and app called “OFTV” [OnlyFans Television].

The platform released a statement promising its new video-on-demand service will “[feature] free, original content by OnlyFans creators spanning a wide variety of genres including fitness, cooking, comedy, music, and more.” The press release added, “Creators are able to share both short- and long-form video content for their fans to watch from the convenience of their phones, tablets, and smart TVs.”

Missing from that description — any mention of anything that could be construed as NSFW.

Instead, the statement pointed up creator channels like, “Cheri Fit, Yoga with Taz, and Tennis Class with Adi.” It also promoted its original content series, “Unlocked,” a reality series that will see host host Casey Boonstra interviewing creators while they partake in mini-adventures. “Viewers will receive a behind the scenes glimpse into each creator’s daily life and get to know them on a personal level, while also taking them on an adventure that’s totally new and unexpected.”

So it was likely no coincidence that on August 19, only two days after unveiling its new legitimate entertainment strategy, it announced plans to change its user requirements to stop allowing porn.

Amidst reports that it was reportedly struggling to find investment partners for these new ventures, OnlyFans said it would no longer allow sexually explicit “conduct” on its platform, though creators would still be allowed to post nudity, provided it adhered to the “Acceptable Use Policy.”

The statement further said the changes were the result of requests from its “banking partners and payout providers.” It provided no further specifics but continued, “[OnlyFans] will be sharing more details in the coming days and we will actively support and guide our creators through this change in content guidelines.”

Except the details never came.

Media Circle Wagons for Porn

From the moment OnlyFans announced the porn ban, the media seemed determined to see it reversed, quickly rushing out stories characterizing the company’s pivot away from porn as “unfair” and “cruel.”

Slate, for example, said, “OnlyFans’ decision to sell out porn creators fits neatly into a narrative of greed… what OnlyFans is doing is not just shameful, but fundamentally cruel.”

The Daily Beast called the news “crushing” and quoted a number of pro-porn sources, including one who said, “The decision to pull the rug out from millions of creators who have helped put OnlyFans on the map, many of whom left their full-time jobs to pivot to making content full-time, is a slap in the face.”

The article didn’t include any content creators who approve of the ban on sexually explicit material, but did somehow manage to suggest that racism could have played a role in the company’s shift.

“We’ve seen this before on Tumblr and Instagram, that a thin white woman’s body is considered art,” one person told the outlet, adding, “but a trans woman’s body or a fuller-figured woman’s body or a black woman’s body are inherently sexual.”

The Daily Beast finished by arguing, “It truly is baffling why OnlyFans would discard the same creators who earned the site its prominence.”

Meanwhile, progressive writers like New Republic staff writer Melissa Gira Grant insisted the policy was never about raising capital and branching out in new directions, but about establishing a state religion.

“The campaign against OnlyFans is part of a larger project,” Grant tweeted, “it’s not about ending violence and abuse, and it’s not about sex negativity or controlling women (though that’s part of it)—it’s about fighting to establish a fundamentalist Christian nation.”

Coverage from larger outlets like CNN and NBC, subtly backed up these angles, focusing solely on the financial loss sexually explicit performers would suffer rather than findings that the site has reportedly been used as a hub for child pornography and sex trafficking.

Clearly, OnlyFans’ plan to become a broader streaming platform had been some time in the works. Yet, it took less than two weeks for the company to crumble under media pressure.

OnlyFans Backs Down, Promises to Protect Porn

When the barrage of denouncements came, the company hurried out a post using the media’s preferred term of “sex worker” over “porn star,” tweeting on August 21, “Dear Sex Workers, The OnlyFans community would not be what it is today without you. The policy change was necessary to secure banking and payment services to support you. We are working around the clock to come up with solutions.”

But the media beat went on. And four days later, a simple, abrupt tweet announced that the company had changed its mind. The porn would go on.

“Thank you to everyone for making your voices heard,” the post announcing the shift read. “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.”

A top tier outlet like The Washington Post already has the respect of the establishment, so it was no risk to it to immediately run an essay applauding the decision and calling porn bans “puritanical” and mocking them as “born-again virginity.”

By prioritizing media cheers over the safety of children and the common good, OnlyFans’ hope to draw mainstream subscribers to their new family-friendly productions has probably gone with the wind.

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