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OnlyFans, Platform Known for Pornography, to Ban Explicit Content

Photo by Caspar Camille Rubin/Unsplash
Photo by Caspar Camille Rubin/Unsplash
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By Tré Goins-Phillips
Editor

August 19, 2021

In the wake of a damning report from the BBC, the content-sharing platform OnlyFans — a site known for hosting pornography — announced this week it is banning explicit content beginning this fall.

The decision came despite a flowery, one-sided report in February from ABC News, which suggested in an hour-long documentary that so-called “sex work” is a legitimate career field and shied away from any criticisms of OnlyFans or the content housed within it.

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Nevertheless, an investigative report from the BBC revealed kids as young as 13 years old have duped the platform’s age verification apparatus in order to view explicit content and even post themselves.

And that says nothing of the mounting concern over the availability of pornography, its addictive nature, the impact it has on consumers, or the numerous people who have since left the pornography industry due to the physical, psychological, and spiritual toll it took on them.

***As the number of voices facing big-tech censorship continues to grow, please sign up for Faithwire’s daily newsletter and download the CBN News app, developed by our parent company, to stay up-to-date with the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***

Facing pushback from its financial partners, the London-based OnlyFans announced Thursday it will ban “sexually explicit conduct” starting Oct. 1. It’s worth noting the platform will still reportedly allow nudity.

It’s not immediately clear how the site will differentiate between nude content and content containing “sexually explicit conduct.”

Here’s the statement OnlyFans gave Input:

Effective 1 October, 2021, OnlyFans will prohibit the posting of any content containing sexually-explicit conduct. 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. These changes are to comply with the requests of our banking partners and payout providers. 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.

Estimated to bring in $2.5 billion in 2022, largely as a result of hosting pornographic content, plenty of creators — and their defenders — are not happy with the decision by OnlyFans.

“OnlyFans grew off the back of sex workers, who found a safe haven in the platform to charge their fans for access to explicit photos and videos,” reported Input. “Unfortunately, there remains a stigma in the world surrounding sex, and OnlyFans empowering a new generation of entrepreneurs to run their own independent businesses — and make millions doing it — apparently wasn’t enough to change that perception.”

There are others, though, calling out OnlyFans not for banning pornography but for failing to create a robust system to verify the age of those accessing and producing sexually explicit content.

https://twitter.com/LailaMickelwait/status/1428446879893786624?s=20

It’s not a coincidence the updated rules from OnlyFans follows a decision by Mastercard to require thorough age verification and obvious consent of every person in all content on the platform and others like it.

In mid-April, Mastercard updated its policy on “illegal adult content,” stating partnered sites hosting explicit content must establish “documented age and identity verification for all people depicted and those uploading the content,” a “content review process prior to publication,” a “complaint resolution process that addresses illegal or non-consensual content within seven business days,” and an “appeals process allowing for any person depicted to request their content be removed.”

Dawn Hawkins, CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, said in a statement shared with Faithwire that she is “glad to see OnlyFans work to move away from pornography on its platform.”

“With many reports of filmed child sexual abuse, sex trafficking, and other non-consensually recorded or uploaded sex acts being sold on its website, OnlyFans has more than a PR problem to attract investors,” she said. “It has a potential criminal problem.”

Hawkins went on to say OnlyFans is “finally being seen for what it is — a website set up solely to profit from the exploitation of vulnerable persons who then pay the high price of psychological, emotional, and physical harm that the sex industry imparts.”

Anything else?

Last week, a bipartisan group of more than 100 lawmakers in the House of Representatives sent a letter to the Department of Justice, asking the federal agency to investigate OnlyFans.

Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.) explained in the letter that the platform, which has some 130 million users, has been a source of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in recent years.

Today I called on the DOJ to investigate OnlyFans for child exploitation.

With the pandemic forcing our kids to spend more time isolated and online, it is our responsibility to ensure children are protected from bad actors operating via the internet.https://t.co/PkMLIsOJWh

— Ann Wagner (@RepAnnWagner) August 10, 2021

The letter referenced data from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which was aware of 10 cases in 2019 involving missing children associated with content sold on OnlyFans.

“In 2021, NCMEC has identified at least 80 cases in which missing children were linked with OnlyFans content,” the letter stated. “Moreover, in 2021, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation named OnlyFans one of the top contributors to only sexual exploitation in the United States.”

***As the number of voices facing big-tech censorship continues to grow, please sign up for Faithwire’s daily newsletter and download the CBN News app, developed by our parent company, to stay up-to-date with the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***

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