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EXCLUSIVE: Explaining OnlyFans’ ban on sexually-explicit content
UPDATE: Seconds after posting this, OnlyFans announced they’d be suspending their policy change! This article will remain for posterity’s sake.
Effective October 1st 2021, OnlyFans will be banning any and all sexually-explicit content on their platform.
If you’ve been on Twitter at any point in the past few days, there’s a good chance you’ve already heard this story. Especially if you were already a consumer or creator of OnlyFans content. It’s been a hot topic as of late, rife with controversy and conflicting opinions, that the truth of such a story might be hard to discern between all of the rumors and exaggerations.
It’s with any hope, then, that an article such as this might be able to explain (and hopefully, in plain terms) what’s been happening over the past few days. But, for those of you who weren’t aware of OnlyFans until now, the platform provided a space for people to create content behind subscription services. This could range from the tame, such as cooking videos and workout tips, to the explicit, such as nudity and pornography.
It is hardly a surprise that the platform, and its creators, saw most of their revenue coming from the latter. Especially after it saw a spike in popularity following the COVID-19 Pandemic and the lockdowns that many nations underwent. Creating content from home, generating an income, and on a platform that welcomed marginalized people? It’s easy to see why it became popular. So, unfortunately, a platform that became popular because of sexually explicit content… is now banning that very same content.
Wait, what? Why?
On April 14, 2021, MasterCard announced that it would be extending their existing Specialty Merchant Registration requirements. In other words, they were updating their rules, which “starts with strong content control measures and clear, unambiguous and documented consent.” To be more specific, these updated requirements are as follows…
- Documented age and identity verification for all people depicted and those uploading the content
- Content review process prior to publication
- Complaint resolution process that addresses illegal or non-consensual content within seven business days
- Appeals process allowing for any person depicted to request their content be removed
This looks sound on paper, and in theory, since it requires platforms to do what they should have been doing already. Identity verification, removal of content by those depicted, and addressing anything that’s illegal or non-consensual.
But that’s in theory. What about that second point?
It requires all content to go through a reviewing process prior to publication. That means identifying, verifying, and examining every single piece of content that gets uploaded to OnlyFans. Photos, videos, even livestreams will need to be monitored. That takes time. That takes money. It allows for absolute control over what gets posted.
And not complying with these requirements means MasterCard will stop processing your payments. Imagine that one of your biggest bridges just got burned. That’s what would happen to businesses, with said bridge being one of the roads that their money travels on. You used to get money from someone paying on their Aqua card? Not anymore, if MasterCard blocks that.
Doors get closed.
‘Oh, just block MasterCard then.’ If only it were that simple, we’d be hearing of that in the news. But we aren’t. Why’s that? Because it won’t just be MasterCard doing this. Visa, and other payment processors, will soon follow. One ‘bridge’ won’t burn. All of them will.
Upon doing some searching and digging, these reasons go further beyond just a policy update. This is an ongoing conflict based on morality, as well as the ever-prevelent accounts of sex trafficking, revenge porn, CSEM, and other illegal material that similar sites (such as PornHub) have been accused of condoning (and even promoting) in the past. At the bottom of their report, MasterCard speaks of how it has teamed up with several “organizations […] leading the charge to fight sexual exploitation” and how they are “committed to doing everything in [their] power to ensure only lawful activity takes place on [their] network.”
So, in the end, OnlyFans had to make a choice.
Comply, and dedicate all of their time and money to reviewing creator content.
Or simply issue a blanket ban over sexually explicit content.
They chose the latter. To those adult content creators – the ones doing legal, consensual, and professional work – we can already see the effect this is having on them. They are people whose primary source of income came from OnlyFans. For some, I imagine, this isn’t anything drastic because, curiously enough, the ban is only on sexually explicit content. Nudity? A-OK. For others, however, they are already moving onto other websites.
Could OnlyFans potentially accept cryptocurrencies as a new source of income? Are there more restrictions that MasterCard hasn’t elaborated on yet? How might this affect other websites? We’ll have to wait and see what happens on October 1, 2021.
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