Porn is back—at least on OnlyFans. Platform backtracks on banning sexually explicit content

By Zlati Meyer

August 25, 2021

Your porn prayers have been answered.

OnlyFans is reversing its decision to ban sexually explicit content on its platform.

“We have secured assurances necessary to support our diverse creator community and have suspended the planned October 1 policy change. OnlyFans stands for inclusion, and we will continue to provide a home for all creators,” the company tweeted on Wednesday morning, adding that “an official communication to creators will be emailed shortly.”

The no-porn policy was scheduled to take effect in October.

Last week, the London-based business announced that sexually explicit content would no longer be permitted due to an effort to “evolve our content guidelines.” Underpinning that, though, were concerns about investors’ discomfort with the explicit nature of what’s posted there.

The backlash was swift, as the sex workers whose use of the platform helped turn it into a household name got angry over the shift in position. Many had migrated to OnlyFans after being blocked from other platforms and have since generated a significant revenue stream for themselves.

Today’s NSFW suspension announcement harkens back to the corporate ethos outlined by OnlyFans CEO Tim Stokely in an interview with Fast Company in March about its adult content. “We pride ourselves, and have from day one, on having some of the most liberal content [policies] as to not censor or filter the voices and the content of our creators,” he said. “We really welcome the diversity on the platform. That’s not something that’s going to change.”

Five-year-old OnlyFans, owned by Fenix International Limited, has more than 150 million registered users and over 1.5 million content creators, who are paid out a total of $5 billion-plus annually, according to the company’s website.

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