Facing pressure from Apple, Google, banks, and payment processors, the app moves forward with PG-only content.
Earlier this month, OnlyFans began marketing their free app OFTV for the first time since its January release.
The app features creator content on a wide variety of subjects, including wellness and cooking, and is available to download on Android, iPhone, and most smart TV platforms.
At the time of OFTV’s original release, the one significant difference between OnlyFans and OFTV was the noticeable absence of nudity and pornography from the new app.
OnlyFans bans “sexually explicit” content
Last week, OnlyFans shocked its audience and users when they announced a ban on all “sexually explicit” content to start on October 1, 2021. Following five days of backlash, the decision to remove adult content was reversed.
However, the near-removal of sex workers from the platform didn’t come as a surprise to those who have been keeping a close eye on the company’s recent trajectory.
Since its creation, OnlyFans has distanced itself from NSFW content creators, choosing instead to endorse athletic trainers, chefs, and other non-sex work professionals.
Making a new name
In order to distribute content across the Apple App and Google Play stores, OnlyFans had to exclude adult content from its app.
OFTV was the safe-for-work answer: a no-cost, ad-free content platform filled with original content from wellness and fitness creators, vloggers, and more.
Like Apple TV+, Netflix, and other streaming platforms, OFTV also promotes original content from the studio. The OFTV original “Unlocked” series features exclusive interviews with celebrities like Bella Thorne, Tyler Posey, and Mia Khalifa.
Every wire was “flagged and rejected”
At the time of OFTV’s release, it appeared that adult content creators had been firmly relegated to the sidelines of OnlyFans’ marketing and growth strategy because of Apple and Google’s strict anti-adult content policies.
According to the company, the ban on NSFW content was made “to comply with the requests of our banking partners and payout providers.”
In an interview with the Financial Times, Tim Stokely, the founder and chief executive of OnlyFans, said that the Bank of New York Mellon “flagged and rejected” every wire that could be traced back to the company, “making it difficult to pay our creators.”
Banks and payment processors allow little room for adult content creators
Sex workers and adult content creators are already well aware of the critical role that banks play in marginalizing adult content.
Notable examples include Mastercard’s recent announcement of strict regulations for any platform that features adult content and PayPal cutting ties with Pornhub in November 2019.
Uncertain future
Every time relatively safe platforms like OnlyFans sideline sex workers and NSFW creators, those creators are forced to find alternative options to support themselves.
Emerging blockchain-based NSFW platforms provide a possible venue for creators. But is no regulation safer than over-regulation?
The danger of exploitation will remain pervasive for adult entertainers as long as nudity and pornography continue to be marginalized.
Image sources: OFTV, OnlyFans, 401(K) 2012
