OnlyFans Is Banning Sexually Explicit Content

Over the past five years, OnlyFans has built its business on the backs of sex workers selling millions upon millions of NSFW videos and photos to their followers.

But now, as it reportedly struggles to find investors willing to buy in at a billion-dollar valuation, it’s shunting those crucial core creators aside: Beginning Oct. 1, OnlyFans will no longer allow users to post or sell 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,” OnlyFans said in a statement.

It blamed the decision on “requests” from its “banking partners and payout providers.”

The company–which chose this moment to highlight that it has paid out more than $5 billion to content creators thus far–said users will still be able to post nude content “as long as it is consistent with our Acceptable Use Policy.” Based on OnlyFans’ phrasing around banning content containing “sexually explicit conduct,” we’re guessing tasteful nudes are fine, but nothing showing any actual sex happening.

We’re also guessing previously posted/sold content won’t be scrubbed, but can’t say for sure.

OnlyFans it will “be sharing more details in the coming days and we will actively support and guide our creators through this change in content guidelines.”

As you might expect, OnlyFans’ decision has been received less than favorably by the internet at large–not to mention its user base of more than two million creators, a significant number of whom have come to rely on OnlyFans for the bulk of their income. (We’ve previously covered just how much some YouTubers have raked in by launching OnlyFans accounts.)

Here’s a selection of responses from Twitter:

As some of the above tweets pointed out, it’s long been apparent that OnlyFans wants to move away from NSFW in favor of courting exclusive content from well-known celebrities and athletes.

The platform made that even more obvious three days ago with the launch of OFTV, a no-nudity, free-to-use app that offers 800+ videos from popular OnlyFans creators as well as folks like fitness instructors and chefs. OnlyFans’ flagship app is not allowed on Apple or Google app stores because it vends NSFW content.

And, of course, OnlyFans is also reportedly seeking investment from a “strategic partner.”

Per Axios, it’s trying to raise money at a valuation of more than $1 billion, and intends to use the money to buy out majority owner Leo Radvinsky (a longtime pornography mogul who founded MyFreeCams) and provide management with “more legitimacy.” Sources familiar with the matter told Axios that a number of potential investors passed quickly, without doing due diligence.