OnlyFans has become a phenomenon synonymous with financial independence in the digital age. It allows creators to monetize adult content, often marketed as a “safe space” where individuals can control their image and income. But behind the veil of empowerment lies a troubling undercurrent of exploitation, coercion, and abuse. A growing body of evidence reveals that OnlyFans is not just a platform for self-expression but also a breeding ground for slavery and sex trafficking. This narrative of deceit and abuse of the women behind the site is revealed in a story by Reuters through interviews with several such women. The victims have spoken of alienation, torment, and servitude as those who committed atrocities used the profile of the platform to mask exploitation behind payment walls and proxy subscription services.
Emerging in 2016, OnlyFans is taking a position as the ground-breaking service for adult content production. While creators get to keep 80% of the earnings, the platform collects the remaining 20%, which is quite a good deal for many. By paying creators well and claiming that they would decide what content they would be sharing, OnlyFans sold itself as a platform that promoted freedom.
However, the measures were considered to be effective enough in the plan of the platform, but they failed to protect against such exploitation. Until the end of 2022, creators were not obliged to prove that the depicted people gave their consent—a crucial step that allowed the traffickers to profit from forced and coercive videos. However, new scandals have been associated with the company after it tightened its rules for portraying models.
Trafficking victims on OnlyFans reportedly have a similar story to tell, most of the time. Scammers, mostly pretending to be interested in the victim or a concerned friend or relative, use their targets to enrich themselves. By coercion, force, and threats, they force their targets to achieve these explicit acts.
For instance, a woman from Wisconsin was held captive by her boyfriend; the man tortured her by spilling hot grease on her back and made her continuously produce nude videos for OnlyFans. She was abused for almost two years, and in doing this defrauding her employers, she earned over $400,000, which was siphoned to her abuser’s accounts. “I was in pain,” she said later in an interview, “alone” and “ready to die” as she detailed the psychological effects of the abuse that linger even after being freed from physical harm.
In the same year, a woman from Arkansas stated that her boyfriend threatened her with bodily harm if she refused to film herself for hours daily. Her story started when OnlyFans had already implemented strict policies about consent, questioning the site’s efficiency in preventing such incidents.
These cases are not isolated. In a survey of documented US police complaints, international court records, as well as interviews with the investigating officers, a total of at least twelve women was reported in US, forced and abused to develop content for OnlyFans. Catheline Torres of the National Human Trafficking Hotline says the number is higher and argues that the predictions were grossly underestimated. As the paywall model implemented in the site safeguards creators from uninterested observers, on the other hand, preserves traffickers from potentially investigative eyes.
OnlyFans-based trafficking expanded the international jurisdiction issue relating to sex trafficking with the case of Andrew Tate, a misanthropic influencer. The Romanian prosecutors claim that Tate and his partners lured women of their promise to get married but then compelled them to make sex deeds for OnlyFans and keep net proceeds for themselves.
Known by the authorities as “the greatest hustle in the world,” it initiated copycat schemes all around the world. In Romania, there was a case almost the same as Tate's—a group of men arrested for forcing women to produce pornography while marking them with ‘toy’ or ‘dog’ branding. In these cases, it is seen how the traffickers use the opportunities of economic independence for women as a cover and power as an enclosure.
When using this form of tactic, the abusers follow certain patterns of behavior to ensure they have the victims trapped; for instance, they isolate them. Such tactics are not at all rare, the use of such strategies is rather widespread. For instance, a husband and wife are involved in operating an online six-state trafficking business, using OnlyFans to organize prostitution, and selling sexually exploited videos of their victims. The authorities state that the couple abused their victims under the cover of a family business, which was growing children in an ordinary American house.
OnlyFans have stated that they do not allow prostitution and trafficking, and its CEO, Kelly Blair, reiterates the safety of the platform. The company has high-impact moderation policies and has implemented deregulation, such as proof of consent.
However, critics claim that these measures are not enough. They develop an understanding of how the style of the paywalls hinders any chance of reporting abuse by keeping the platform concealed from public scrutiny. Survivors of human trafficking, who are mostly minor or afraid and whose evidence is usually ignored by the court, would have a challenging time seeking justice.
Legality is another weak link revealed by cases against the running of the platform, allege that OnlyFans is profiting from traffic in persons. One involved a Florida college student who alleged that the company made money through videos that depicted her rape. This case, in which a judge proposed to dismiss OnlyFans under free speech protection, put a spotlight on the conflict between moderation and legal responsibility.
OnlyFans’ phenomenal growth impacts have been felt beyond the digital economy. It has made it a norm, profiting off of people’s intimate content while making a distinction between consent and forced nudity more nuanced than maybe it should be.
For many women, the calls for self-assertion sound all too shrill. Instead, they are left to face the consequences of abuse, exploitation. In the words of a survivor, "The damage is forever.” The stories of exploitation tell a different story from the current narrative as the platform needs to enhance its reporting system, its content moderation, and work closely with the police. The general public conversation regarding such platforms as OnlyFans needs to shift as well. Policymakers, tech companies, and advocacy groups must collaborate to ensure that the digital economy does not come at the cost of human rights. Until OnlyFans and similar platforms address the systemic issues enabling exploitation, their success will remain tainted by the sufferers.
Edited by: Ece Nisanoğlu