The Dark Side of OnlyFans: Abusive Middlemen and the Need for Regulation

The Dark Side of OnlyFans

Since its launch a decade ago, OnlyFans has presented itself as a vehicle for content creators' empowerment. However, revelations of the role played by middlemen in transactions on the website, which is dominated by pornographic content, undermine such claims and require a response from parliament.

The Abusive Middlemen

A Guardian investigation and a BBC documentary uncovered details of male-run agencies that seek out young women, persuade them to film sexual material, and take 50% of their earnings (all OnlyFans creators also pay a 20% commission to the website). The reporters heard from women who faced pressure to make their content more explicit, and about online networks where managers sell contracts with performers to each other.

The Financial Impact

The company has paid out around £25bn, and has more than 4m creator accounts worldwide, though it does not publish data about what proportion of content is pornographic.

The Need for Regulation

The request for a select committee inquiry into OnlyFans by Tonia Antoniazzi, a Labour MP, and Eleanor Lyons, the anti-slavery commissioner, deserves to be taken up. MPs on the science and technology committee should challenge its executives about the findings. Safeguards around its payments system, the involvement of third-party managers, and decisions around data collection would all benefit from being publicly examined.

The Future Outlook

There are questions for society, as well as for legislators, about this sexual digital marketplace. In some cases, very young women may be monetising access to their bodies before they have experienced intimacy in real life. But experts are also concerned about pornography's impact on young men's ability to form relationships.