So, you’ve been supporting OnlyFans creators for years. Your account is an encyclopedia of asses, cocks, boobs and everything in between, all of which you’ve paid a pretty penny for. It’s your happy place, a faptopia of your own making.
But yesterday, the longevity of your epic X-rated collection came into question when OnlyFans announced that they’re going to “prohibit the posting of any content containing sexually-explicit conduct” come October. They’ll still allow “content containing nudity,” but from the sounds of it, they’re cracking down on, well — they’re actually not at all clear about what any of this means.
There’s no FAQ to provide clarity on the OnlyFans website. Their support team has been telling creators that the media has it all wrong. And nobody knows what exactly to expect from this seemingly major change.
So, what’s really going on here? Will that hard-earned, “sexually-explicit” OnlyFans content be wiped from your account in October? What does “sexually-explicit” even mean? No more deep-throat videos? Less anal? What about that one you love where she uses the Hitachi Wand?
OnlyFans says they’ll share “more details in the coming days,” but for now, we can take some clues from the Pornhub purge of 2020, which has many similarities to what’s going on here. It was sparked by a New York Times article alleging that revenge porn and videos taken without consent appeared all over the website. As a quick aside, I should note that the actual data behind these claims is skimpy. Not to mention, the article has been condemned by sex workers for being sensational — Pornhub and OnlyFans creator Mary Moody, founding board member at the Adult Industry Laborers and Artists Association, tells me it’s “misleading,” because it made the presence of non-consensual content on Pornhub seem larger than it really was.
Nonetheless, these claims resulted in Mastercard and Visa blocking their customers from purchasing Pornhub content under the guise of preventing sexual misconduct. In an attempt to smooth things over, Pornhub removed all posts from unverified users and announced new moderation efforts.
This didn’t wipe out any content that people had already paid for, because a person needed to be verified (and still does) in order to sell videos on Pornhub, and all verified content stayed put — at least for the time being. “The old, purchased videos are still accessible,” says Pornhub and OnlyFans star June Liu.
What it did do, however, was limit the kinds of content people can make money with on Pornhub. And since these new rules were implemented, content deemed inappropriate by Pornhub moderators has been removed from the site. “Pornhub has been reviewing every video on the site and deleting verified, documented content that’s considered to promote violence against women,” says fetish model Lux Lives, who’s on Pornhub and OnlyFans. “That’s obviously vague and fraught, so the content moderation is kind of all over the place. In particular, Pornhub is scrubbing BDSM from the platform. I’ve had tickling videos deleted due to it often being combined with bondage.” As a result, she says, “Everyone is making less money now.”
Much of this is an effort to stay in accordance with regulations on adult content that Mastercard released in April, which involves extra reviews, documentation and verification, especially on the part of uploaders. For example, Lives says on Clips4Sale, a BDSM and fetish platform also impacted by Mastercard’s decree, “There are people with 5,000 videos who are having to upload IDs, 2257s, model releases and consent verification documents on every video.”
Therefore, many suspect that this sudden announcement from OnlyFans is related to Mastercard as well. “These changes are to comply with the requests of our banking partners and payout providers,” an OnlyFans media contact explains via email.
Among sex workers on these platforms, Mastercard’s rules feel more like an attack on them than on non-consensual content. “Mastercard created policies by working with anti-porn religious organizations that want to ban all porn,” says Moody. “This won’t stop bad actors. It won’t do anything to stop sex trafficking, as Mastercard may say. It’s strictly policies that cement anti-porn, puritanical censorship.”
What does all that mean for the future of your OnlyFans account? It’s not entirely clear, but it’s also not out of the question that you’ll lose some of your precious paid-for content. “Content and creators have been deleted for violating these terms of service since forever on OnlyFans, so yes, people can have content they’ve paid for deleted,” Lives says. “This has always been the case — it’s just gotten easier and easier to be in violation.” She predicts that OnlyFans may still allow softcore porn come October, but scrub anything more hardcore, “or at least BDSM.”
Whatever happens, all this ambiguity is causing quite the commotion at the moment, and OnlyFans creators aren’t sure what to do moving forward. “OnlyFans hasn’t notified us about literally anything,” says Pornhub and OnlyFans model Ginger Banks. “I’ve been trying to figure out what I’m gonna give all of my fans who paid for a year’s subscription in advance.”
All we really know is that OnlyFans has some serious explaining to do. “Right now they’re being vague because they’re trying to cover their own asses,” Moody says. “The only thing that’s clear is that OnlyFans has made a decision not to support sex workers in fighting against puritanical censorship by Mastercard. It’s very possible that they’re being vague hoping that they can appeal to both Mastercard and sex workers without losing either.”
But if OnlyFans doesn’t come out with a good plan soon, it looks like they could lose both (and you, of course).
Ian Lecklitner
Ian Lecklitner is a staff writer at MEL Magazine. He mostly writes about everyone's favorite things: Sex, drugs and food.
