Some San Jose State students who once produced explicit content on OnlyFans, a subscription-based social media platform, will no longer be able to do so following a ban on sexual content outlined in the updated OnlyFans acceptable use policy.
The ban is expected to begin Oct. 1 in compliance with the requests of OnlyFans banking partners and payout providers, according to a Thursday company statement obtained by Dan Primack, Axios business editor.
Axios is an online news website launched in 2017, according to its website.
“In order to ensure long-term sustainability of the platform . . . we must evolve our content guidelines,” the company said in the statement.
While sexually explicit content will be banned, general “nudity” is still allowed as long as it aligns with the new acceptable use policy.
Sexually explicit content includes “extreme” exposure of one’s genitals or anus, fake or actual masturbation, the portrayal of actual or simulated sexual acts and actual or simulated bodily fluids related to sexual acts, according to the acceptable use policy.
Content currently on the platform that contains sexually explicit conduct must be removed before Dec. 1, according to the same policy.
Those accounts that violate the user policy will be suspended or terminated and access to earnings will be unavailable, per the policy.
An art and psychology junior, who asked to go by C.F. for privacy concerns, said he began creating explicitly nude content on OnlyFans in late 2019.
“I just wanted money,” C.F. said in a Zoom interview. “It was just at a time where I was maybe struggling a little bit, I just wanted an easy way to control my income and make a difference in my own life.”
C.F. said the ability to set his own prices and create as much content as he wanted helped him feel in control.
The money he made from OnlyFans contributed to his rent and personal budget.
OnlyFans had a surge in content creators who chose to stay home and make money online after the coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020.
The company reported revenue growth of 553% in November 2020, according to a Financial Times report.
OnlyFans hosted less than 20 million content-buying users prior to the pandemic and now has over 120 million content-buying users, according to the same report.
An SJSU student, who preferred to go by the alias Dan for privacy concerns, joined the platform in March 2020 during the beginning of the pandemic to make money when he was laid off from his job.
“It was hard to [find] work so I was just doing videos from home,” Dan said in a phone call. “I [realized I] can get paid for this.”
He earned around 100 dollars each week creating sexually explicit content and he said it was a good way to make side money.
OnlyFans brought in $375 million in net revenue in 2020 and the company is expected to make $1.2 billion in 2021, according to an Aug. 19 Axios article.
While the company is raking in profit, it’s struggling to find investors and appease payment processors like Visa and Mastercard because of risks related to pornography platforms, according to the same article.
OnlyFans has an alleged history of lenience to accounts that post illegal content, including child porn or sexual abuse, according to leaked documents in a Friday BBC News article.
The documents state that some of these accounts would be given multiple warnings in lieu of automatic account elimination even though they break the OnlyFans terms of service.
An OnlyFans spokesperson stated in the same Friday BBC News article that this type of occurrence was rare.
Much of the money they are aiming to gain from new investors will be used to pay out majority stakeholder Leo Radivinsky, a webcam pornography mogul who has made millions from the company’s growth, according to the article.
The other part of the investment will be used to secure the company’s “legitimate” status among other social media platforms, including Twitch and YouTube, in terms of financial assets, according to the same article.
While the OnlyFans policy may be important to the company’s survival plan, SJSU economics professor Steve O’Brien said the consequences of banning sexually explicit content could be a risk for business.
“If they eliminate a big component of their business, that probably also eliminates a lot of potential investors who say, ‘Can you really [succeed] without that kind of content?’ ” O’Brien said in a phone call.
The company’s reputation may be too fully formed to change direction so easily, he said.
“If they’re trying to make this business pivot to less sexually explicit content, is it too late? Is the brand they’re associated with tied too closely to that kind of content?” O’Brien posed. “If it is, their business model seems in jeopardy.”
With such a large portion of the website including sexually explicit content, OnlyFans is betting on a beneficial trade-off, O’Brien said.
Creators who produce sexual content will be cut off from a platform where they once made money, but Dan said he believes some sections of the community will survive.
“There is a wide variety of content on OnlyFans,” Dan said “There are things that people can post that aren’t sexual but can still be a kink . . . like feet stuff.”
Conversely, other creators with known followings are already leaving the platform.
Rapper Tyga deleted his OnlyFans account only 24 hours after the company announced its policy change, according to a Friday Forbes article.
In his interview with Forbes, Tyga said he will establish his own subscription-based social media platform that will allow sexually explicit content.
Though C.F. no longer creates OnlyFans content, he said those looking to create sexually explicit content won’t be completely stopped once the new OnlyFans policy goes into effect.
“I think everyone's just going to honestly move on to the next [media platform],” C.F. said. “That's kind of what always happens.”
OnlyFans will continue to update its community guidelines moving forward, according to its Thursday statement.
