Do you know about OnlyFans?
By Lynette Brehm
It’s important that parents, educators, caregivers and law enforcement understand how OnlyFans works and the risks associated with the platform.
What is OnlyFans?
According to their website, OnlyFans is a subscription social media platform that connects fans and creators of content.
It boasts 130 million subscribers and over 2 million content creators.
You must be 18 years or older to be a subscriber or creator.
However, here is what Don’t Click! and law enforcement found about this social media platform.
Behind the advertisements to lure artists to showcase their talent, (as seen in this ad) it is estimated that 90% or more of the content on OnlyFans is pornographic.
According to the National Center of Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE),
“OnlyFans is unquestionably facilitating child sexual abuse material and human trafficking of adults and minors”.
How does this affect your children?
OnlyFans portrays itself as a mainstream website. Its layout is like Facebook or Instagram with direct messaging and followers.
OnlyFans advertises on SnapChat, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and many popular sites used widely by minors. Recruiters use aggressive tactics promoting come make millions of dollars on OF showcasing your talent. Recruiters and content-creators are incentivized by OF to advertise and bring new followers.
This can get very dangerous very quickly for minors who fall for this ploy.
Aaron Crowley, a survivor who was trafficked in the sex industry, says “OnlyFans has turbo-normalized selling sex..(they) are making the connection in young people’s minds that if you want to have influence/likes/attention and make money, sell your body.”
What happens when you sign up?
At first, content is available for free, in a teaser type format to get you to pay for more explicit content.
Once we signed up, this is the very first page that pops up. This is before you subscribe or add your credit card information.
Home page of OnlyFans after inputting your email address.
Dangerous Features of OnlyFans
There’s basically no age verification to use the platform. To access explicit content you must become a subscriber. It’s a two-step process. Simply enter a credit card and click a box verifying you are 18.
Why would you need to verify you are 18? Because the majority of content on OnlyFans is pornographic.
The OF Direct Messaging feature is also dangerous. The Direct Messaging feature allows for personal/private conversations between the subscriber and the performer.
Do you want your teen to have direct interaction with an adult porn star or possibly the pimp who is trafficking them?
“Hey Babe let’s get to know each other better.”
New this year is OnlyFansTV.
OFTV will now be available as a free app in the Apple store. Material on OFTV is supposedly “safe-for-work”. However, our investigation discovered that some of the so-called “safe-for-work” videos are just another teaser to buy explicit content and shows like “Coffee and Cleavage” are arguably more of a peep show than a talk show.
Cross-marketing to other porn sites is also a problem. Once inside the creator’s landing page, many have links to PornHub and escort sites to see additional content.
What can you do?
Talk to your teens about OnlyFans. Be honest and open in a way that is age-appropriate about what OF really is. Remind them that not everything online is what it seems. Teach them what to do, or not to do, if they see an OnlyFans advertisement or if a friend is using OnlyFans. Teens are going to be curious. Acknowledge their curiosity especially if your teen is prone to be impulsive and struggles with self-control. One-click can easily lead down a path of pornography. But you can make a difference by talking to them.
Talk about the lure many of these sites have to become famous or gain followers. These sites are very effective in luring and grooming kids.
Talk about how watching pornography is not a healthy habit and can quickly become an addiction and lead to problems in relationships that last way beyond the teen years.
Or maybe have an open conversation about pornography with your teen to see if they are struggling with pornography or know someone who is.
For more resources on pornography addiction visit FightTheNewDrug.com.
Thank you for reading and please let us know if you have any questions about OnlyFans.
Resources:
https://www.npr.org/2021/08/19/1029457359/onlyfans-ban-sexually-explicit-content
Ron Eritano, Managing Partner, Awareness is Prevention, NCOSE 2021 Global Summit
Lina Nealon, Director of Corporate & Strategic Initiatives for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE)
