# OnlyFans bans porn **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 24, 2021, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407 "2021-08-24T01:29:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2021, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407/41 "2021-08-25T21:40:55Z")
I thought you were saying that you thought “sex work” was only prostitution. If your question is more along the lines of, why use the larger categorization (“sex work”) rather than the more specific one (“porn”), I’m not sure I can say for sure. For one, I think ‘sex work’ sounds more sympathetic, so if you’re inclined to support those who are working on OnlyFans, you might use that term. Also, while I’ve never used OnlyFans, I think it’s more personal than standard porn, right? As in, the customer gets to make certain requests to be fulfilled. So perhaps people don’t use ‘porn’ because it suggests a slightly different model. All in all, I’m not completely sure. I’m super-curious what changed that OnlyFans has now reversed their position. I mean, I know there were a lot of complaints, and they basically didn’t have any other business, but presumably they knew all that before. What changed on the payments side that enabled them to reverse the change? ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2021, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407/42 "2021-08-25T22:06:18Z")
The sex workers I know refer to themselves as sex workers, so I do too. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2021, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407/43 "2021-08-26T00:09:49Z")
For the ones I follow, it wasn’t so much the direct financial hit as the realisation they had built their career on the whims of a powerful monopoly that could treat them badly at any time. Their eggs were all in one basket. Having a second line of communication to their fanbase was a smart move, even apart from the income. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2021, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407/44 "2021-08-26T00:33:03Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > the realisation they had built their career on the whims of a powerful monopoly that could treat them badly at any time. I literally went into a depression when my own life circumstances revealed this so clearly to me. And it’s just becoming more common, the larger and more influential the mega-corporations become. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2021, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407/45 "2021-08-26T02:10:33Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > For the ones I follow, it wasn’t so much the direct financial hit as the realisation they had built their career on the whims of a powerful monopoly that could treat them badly at any time. Their eggs were all in one basket. Having a second line of communication to their fanbase was a smart move, even apart from the income. And this is why every creator I know says to try and diversify. I suspect that’s what’s going to happen with sex workers, too (assuming it hadn’t already based on how people were reacting). People are going to diversify. While I’ve not checked out anyone’s OnlyFans, I’ve seen them putting stuff on Reddit, and I believe that, back when I still visited Pornhub, I saw some OnlyFans links on there, too. And of course there are other institutions that are trying to allow it—though I wonder how well they will work. Even if OF won’t do crypto, they might want to get involved in it, at least, on the receiving end. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2021, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407/46 "2021-08-26T02:20:29Z")
> [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](#): > > I’m super-curious what changed that OnlyFans has now reversed their position. I mean, I know there were a lot of complaints, and they basically didn’t have any other business, but presumably they knew all that before. What changed on the payments side that enabled them to reverse the change? The article above quotes their Twitter, which I checked directly: > The part where they have “secured assurances” implies to me that they have found payment processors who will continue funding them. It actually makes me wonder if the ban was more a negotiation tactic, or at least a way to get others to offer them a way to process it. It’s impossible that they didn’t know how people would react. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2021, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407/47 "2021-08-26T02:47:12Z")
There’s no way they would have done something like this on purpose. They have shown all their content producers how vulnerable they are, and despite the reversal I suspect this brouhaha will drive (even more of) their content producers to look for alternatives which can only be bad for OnlyFans. I would say it’s probably as simple as that they had explored all the options they knew about and figured they had no choice but to ban porn. Then the publicity has shaken out another option. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2021, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407/48 "2021-08-26T15:44:50Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The part where they have “secured assurances” implies to me that they have found payment processors who will continue funding them. Yeah, this is the part I’m curious about. Did they find other, probably sketchier, processors? Did they make some sort of arrangement with their current processors to meet their concerns? > [@BigT](#): > > It actually makes me wonder if the ban was more a negotiation tactic, or at least a way to get others to offer them a way to process it. It’s impossible that they didn’t know how people would react. I basically agree with @Princhester’s response here. But if they raised their take after this whole brouhaha, then it would lend some credibility to this hypothesis. Did they (yet)? ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2021, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407/49 "2021-08-26T17:51:14Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > For the ones I follow, it wasn’t so much the direct financial hit as the realisation they had built their career on the whims of a powerful monopoly that could treat them badly at any time. Their eggs were all in one basket. Having a second line of communication to their fanbase was a smart move, even apart from the income. The ones I know personally (basically because one of my best friends is a sex worker, I know a few others through her; I never actually watch porn or use sex workers for anything other than trading plant cuttings for cake, no euphemisms 😃) have other platforms as well, usually including their own sites. They didn’t build their career on OnlyFans - it was a useful way to get the equivalent of foot traffic for a business in a way that was in line with the very strict UK laws for online porn providers; UK law has been tightened up severely in the last few years, and OnlyFans is UK-based. And for that is very useful. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2021, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407/50 "2021-08-27T05:23:26Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > They didn’t build their career on OnlyFans - it was a useful way to get the equivalent of foot traffic for a business in a way that was in line with the very strict UK laws for online porn providers; UK law has been tightened up severely in the last few years, and OnlyFans is UK-based. And for that is very useful. That makes sense. OnlyFans isn’t really a site you go to to find creators. It’s a site that creators link to from either their own site or other sites. Patreon tend to work the same way. Anyways, the reason I came to post is that I watched a video by one of creators I follow about this. Turns out she’s also technically as sex worker, and not a geek, as she does burlesque shows. In fact, that’s where she figured out she was trans, as she did drag. She argues pretty convincingly that SWERF organizations are very much involved here, using the terms like “commercial exploitation” the same way TERFs use “sex is real.” She specifically mentions a particular organization that seems to be pushing these laws and ideas. She argues that they are the ones who went after PornHub. She points out what should’ve been obvious to me in hindsight: since sex trafficking is already illegal. these sorts of things don’t help at all in stopping trafficking and exploitation. The sex worker community wants to stop this stuff themselves. Sites like OnlyFans actually help them not need to be exploited. They don’t need a pimp. The real solution is to completely legalize sex work, while keeping the other stuff illegal. Then sex workers could easily go to the cops and report problems, not worrying that they themselves would lose their livelihood. There’s a lot more there, too, including the answer to my question of why they call themselves sex workers. I very much recommend you watch. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/25siokB43UI/maxresdefault.jpg "What's happened to OnlyFans, and why it still matters (even though they've changed course)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25siokB43UI) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2021, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407/51 "2021-08-27T10:16:19Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > She points out what should’ve been obvious to me in hindsight: since sex trafficking is already illegal. these sorts of things don’t help at all in stopping trafficking and exploitation. The sex worker community wants to stop this stuff themselves. Sites like OnlyFans actually help them not need to be exploited. As I noted above, the organizations behind this effort are ultimately looking to ban porn entirely, not because they have any serious interest in the victims of trafficking, but because they want to clamp a chastity belt on the world’s crotch. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2021, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407/52 "2021-08-27T10:25:16Z")
Damn straight. It’s really just the "won’t someone think of the children!’ strategy. Or the “but terrorists!” strategy used to ram through citizen surveillance legislation. It’s the strategy of hitching one’s wagon to the panic of the day, then accusing anyone who opposes of being in favour of the subject of the panic. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2021, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407/53 "2021-08-27T13:33:50Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > But, unless I missed something in one of the links, neither has anything to do with this particular ban, do they? Yes, this absolutely was a hitjob by Christian extremists exploiting the power of the credit-card processing monopoly. This is [Exodus Cry](https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-the-onlyfans-porn-mess-is-a-wake-up-call-for-sex-workers) at work again, attacking legitimate sex work by going after payment processors using SESTA/FOSTA to spook them into deplatforming websites that they believe make Jesus cry. Being hit with a credit card ban isn’t like declaring bankruptcy where you just burn a failing company and start over elsewhere. We’re talking about executives getting a lifetime ban from ever having a credit card ever again. Don’t sleep on corporate monopolies that answer only to the market. It’s not hard for vocal minorities to cow them into harmful overcorrections like this. They may not have come after your interests yet, but there are no barriers to them doing so. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2021, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407/54 "2021-08-27T16:42:26Z")
The most shocking thing about this to me is, _“Who The Fuck **Pays** for Porn???”_ ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407/55 "2021-08-28T03:41:53Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > If it’s too long for me to read, why on earth would I want to spend 8 minutes watching a video? There is no way that the written version is going to take more time. Your loss. I like to read, but merely reading is one of the worst ways to convey information – that’s why college professors still lecture instead of handing out a reading assignment. When you add two channels of information – voice and visual – learning and retention go way up. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407/56 "2021-08-28T03:46:50Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Am I the only one who’s never heard of this site before? Probably not the _only_ one, but you’re certainly in a very small minority of internet users, that’s for sure. I mean, both my well-into-retirement-age parents know what OnlyFans is and what it’s best known for. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407/57 "2021-08-28T04:06:59Z")
most girls i know on only fans started on the sort of free cam sites like myfreecams or chaturbate or live jasmin and they are slow in paying for the "premiumn " things and on myfreecams their in site currency is only gives the girls 5-10 percent so if your paying 40 tolkens (which is like 30 bucks) for a 10 minute private session there only getting maybe 5 or 6 bucks out of it … i know one of the most popular girls on MFC and shes on there 4-5 hours a night and maybe making 100 -200 a night if people are tipping and buying the premium shows and such One girl had been there for 3 months and figured out she was making the same as a grocery store position that shed was thinking about applying for and decided she didn’t need “the crap from asshole pervs that wasn’t worth abusing her girl parts for” and took the job So if you could get 14.95 for the same 15 minutes from more people who wouldn’t go tp a cam site only fans is a good deal… in fact a lot girls just use the free cam as infomercials for their OF stuff these days… Even the non porn girls on OF say " well At least i have the option to be sexy/naughty if i want …" ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407/58 "2021-08-28T04:59:53Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > robably not the _only_ one, but you’re certainly in a very small minority of internet users I, for one, had never heard of it until this week. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407/59 "2021-08-28T08:51:27Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > on myfreecams their in site currency is only gives the girls 5-10 percent so if your paying 40 tolkens (which is like 30 bucks) for a 10 minute private session there only getting maybe 5 or 6 bucks out of it This isn’t true according to the MyFreeCams wiki. Every token a model receives is a payout of 5 cents. A TruePrivate show costs 80 tokens per minute, which means the model receives $4 per minute, or $40 in your 10 minute example. The lowest priced token package a user can purchase is 200 tokens for $20, with the cost per token going down if you purchase a larger token package. Since the models all get 5 cents per token no matter what, the payout to them is at least 50%. The wiki page says the average payout is 61.4%. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407/60 "2021-08-28T11:39:27Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > I, for one, had never heard of it until this week. I hate to break it to you but you are also in that very small minority of internet users. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onlyfans-bans-porn/949407.md?page=4)