In less than a week, OnlyFans — the platform that gained popularity for giving sex workers a professional platform — managed a complete 180 on its explicit content terms. On 20 August, the platform announced it will effectively ban certain explicit content from its platform to comply with the terms of its payment providers.
Today the platform suddenly published a tweet detailing that it rescinds its previous announcement, and the platform will continue to allow sex workers and their content thanks to so-called “assurances”.
OnlyFans made a booboo
“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,” the tweet reads.
Thank you to everyone for making your voices heard.
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.
— OnlyFans (@OnlyFans) August 25, 2021
The actual reasoning behind the planned changes in its policy was widely debated, however. A recent investigation by the BBC found that the company had been failing to properly moderate its platform. Any platform permitting sexual content should have an increased focus on moderation and should strive to uphold strict policies. Something it has been failing at.
If the platform invests some of its income (it takes 20% of each content creator’s income via the platform), it’ll have to rethink its moderation strategy to adhere to global laws and regulations around sex crimes, and crimes in general. While at the same time keeping its partners and potential investors happy, of course.
Some OnlyFans creators have already managed to shift their profiles away from the platform and are now based on competing platforms. This is especially true for those hosting content that would have infringed on the planned policy change from 1 October. The sudden change in heart may not win them back, considering they were ready to sell them out on a whim.
Source: The Verge
