Content subscription service, OnlyFans has suddenly flipped its decision to ban pornographic content on its site. Find out more here.

Last week, OnlyFans made a shock announcement that it would ban sexually explicit material from 1st October. This caused outrage amongst a large community of content creators who have relied on the platform to make a living. Many found the move hypocritical and unfair, citing that sexually explicit material and content uploaded by sex workers is what led to the platform’s success.

It remained unclear for a short while why exactly the ban was being enforced. Confirmation of suspicions regarding payment processors and banks came by way of OnlyFans CEO, Tim Stokely speaking to The Financial Times. Stokely explained that the reason for the ban, in simple terms, was due to the banks. He went on to state that they “had no choice”, suggesting it was an unwelcome move to the company. In a tweet following the announcement, OnlyFans claimed it was “working around the clock to come up with solutions”.

Today, however, the change in policy has been suspended. This was announced via an unexpected tweet, which stated “OnlyFans stands for inclusion”.

A suspension of the planned policy change on 1st October may come as welcome news to many. But, the wording has left plenty of content creators wary, hinting that the policy change may still take place, just further down the line. Furthermore, with few details and little transparency around the “necessary assurances”, it is difficult to have much confidence. A lack of surety and safety appears to be the lasting takeaway from this saga.

Has The Damage Been Done?

Despite being able to continue uploading explicit content, many creators feel negatively impacted. Such a monumental change of direction by the platform last week has called its reliability into question. It can be easy to forget that, whilst many earn their sole income via the site, there is no real job security. OnlyFans creators felt abandoned by the policy change. Many worried about being forced into compromising and even dangerous positions.

Creators who rely on uploading sexually explicit content to earn money from their fans have taken to Twitter. It’s largely felt that the announcement caused a huge loss of subscribers overnight. There are fears that, despite the U-turn, it will be difficult to rebuild a solid fanbase and continue to earn money steadily via the site.

OnlyFans may struggle to retain a chunk of its user-base, as they head to the seeming safety of other websites and platforms instead.