Washington, DC (August 19, 2021) –The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) said the announcement made by OnlyFans that it will prohibit creators from posting material with sexually explicit conduct on its website comes after much advocacy from NCOSE, survivors and allies. NCOSE urges OnlyFans to fully end its continued shameless practices which will still foster grooming, sex trafficking, and the exploitation of vulnerable persons.
“We are glad to see OnlyFans work to move away from hardcore pornography on its platform, and this comes after a year of advocacy efforts led by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation with survivors and allies from around the world calling for common sense solutions on pornography platforms like Pornhub and OnlyFans that fail to verify age and consent of all depicted in explicit material,” said Dawn Hawkins, CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
In April 2021, Mastercard released a new policy requiring “clear, unambiguous and documented consent” for any platform hosting pornography. Other payment processors are considering the same essential standards. In addition to the scrutiny from its payment partners, there was also a recent Congressional call on the Department of Justice to open an investigation into OnlyFans for insufficient policies and practices to curb child sexual abuse material and sex trafficking.
“With many reports of filmed child sexual abuse, sex trafficking, and other non-consensually recorded or uploaded sex acts being sold on its website, OnlyFans has more than a PR problem to attract investors, it has a potential criminal problem,” Hawkins said.
“With the refusal of the payment industry to continue as partners unless they change, OnlyFans is finally being seen for what it is –a website set up solely to profit from the exploitation of vulnerable persons who then pay the high price of psychological, emotional, and physical harm that the sex industry imparts,” Hawkins added.
OnlyFans is on NCOSE’s 2021 Dirty Dozen List of mainstream contributors to sexual exploitation. OnlyFans makes money off of vulnerable people’s bodies – especially the bodies of women and minors. Exploiting financial insecurities deepened by the COVID-19 crisis, OnlyFans promises fast cash, empowerment, and even fame. While “Fans” may pay fees for nude images, videos, and livestreams, it is the “creators” who pay the high price of psychological, emotional, and physical harm that the sex industry imparts. This presentation by law enforcement at the CESE Summit explains more about the criminal activity rampant on the platform.
