In a move that has sent the internet into a frenzy, OnlyFans has announced that it will ban sexually explicit content from its platform from October 1. 

The UK-based company, which has over 130 million users and over 2 million content creators, said in a statement that it is making the changes “to comply with the requests of our banking partners and payout providers.”  

In a statement provided to Variety, the company said that effective from October 1, OnlyFans will ban the posting of 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.” 

According to OnlyFans, since being founded in 2016, it has paid out more than $5 billion to creators worldwide, with the company keeping 20% of revenue generated by its creators. The platform has enabled tens of thousands of sex workers to earn substantial incomes with many creators saying it has given them financial freedom. 

Internal figures obtained by Axios suggest about 16,000 creators earn at least $50,000 annually from the site. Sex workers suffered a great loss of income due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and OnlyFans was a platform that enabled them to continue earning. The new ban on sexually explicit content will have a huge impact on their lives. 

Adult performer Taliesin Wolf was quick to point out the hypocrisy of this latest announcement from the company. “OnlyFans built its name on the hard work of adult performers, and the second they were big enough, they dumped the adult creators.

“I would love to say this is shocking news, but a lot of the industry would expect no less from them.”  

As adult performers and sex workers are the leading creators on the website, this ban will most likely have a big impact on the company; however, sex workers will see a much greater loss due to the ban. After Tumblr banned adult content in 2018, they lost over a third of their audience. Facebook and Instagram also have bans on explicit content, making Twitter one of the few leading social media platforms that continues to allow sexually explicit content. 

Hoping to avoid the same fate as Tumblr, OnlyFans has already started to create more G-rated content. Earlier this week it officially launched ‘OFTV,’ a free streaming service that will not include any sexually explicit material, and will instead host content which spans fitness, cooking, comedy, health and music.