OnlyFans suspends ban on sexually explicit content; some Montreal sex workers still wary
Content subscription website OnlyFans has suspended its Oct. 1 ban of “sexually explicit” content, it was announced Aug. 25 — but some Montreal sex workers say the situation is still precarious.
“We really feel like it’s temporary, [like] there’s going to be something else,” says Adore Goldman, a Montreal-based sex worker and activist with the Comité autonome du travail du sexe (CATS).
OnlyFans is a website where creators can sell videos and images to users — including adult content, which the platform is most known for.
Last week, the website announced a policy change that would prohibit “sexually explicit” images and videos, while still allowing nudity. OnlyFans pinned the decision on the changing policies of banks and payment processors.
“The new rules are necessary to comply with the requirements of these financial institutions and are the only way to help ensure the long-term sustainability of OnlyFans,” the company said in a message to users last week.
Many sex workers rely OnlyFans as a major revenue source, so the ban was unwelcome news, according to Goldman.
“It’s truly unsettling. Obviously, it’s my income that’s at stake,” she says, adding that OnlyFans has been an especially important resource for sex workers throughout the pandemic.
Goldman says that, although the ban has been suspended, sex workers still feel uneasy, as it’s unclear whether it will come into effect at a later date.
“I think we’re all waiting to see [what happens]."
PRESSURE FROM PAYMENT SERVICES
OnlyFans says the ban was initially established due to pressure from its banking partners.
“The policy change was necessary to secure banking and payment services to support you,” said OnlyFans in a tweet headed “Dear Sex Workers.”
In recent years, payment processors have been cracking down on transactions related to adult-content. Mastercard, for example, established new requirements for such transactions in April 2021.
“The banks that connect merchants to our network will need to certify that the seller of adult content has effective controls in place to monitor, block and, where necessary, take down all illegal content,” reads the Mastercard website.
To work with Mastercard, platforms would be required to verify the age and identity of those uploading the content and/or being depicted in it, and would need to establish a review process for adult content to go through before publication.
In developing these new rules, Mastercard has partnered with a number of groups dedicated to fighting sexual exploitation, namely sex trafficking and child sexual abuse content.
But efforts to combat sexual exploitation can sometimes impede the livelihoods of consenting, adult sex workers, says Goldman, citing the OnlyFans ban as example. In turn, this can cause sex workers to enter increasingly dangerous situations in order to make ends meet.
“[It puts] the sex workers in a lot more precarity, in a lot more poverty, and this is the perfect context for more exploitation to happen."
OnlyFans said in a statement that “The proposed Oct. 1, 2021 changes are no longer required due to banking partners’ assurances that OnlyFans can support all genres of creators.”
The specifics of the decision are currently unknown.
OnlyFans declined CTV Montreal’s request for further comment.
Sex work advocacy group CATS says that even if OnlyFans bans sexually explicit content and sex workers move to a new platform, restrictions established by payment processors have the potential to follow them.
"No site hosting adult content is safe from their payment processor leaving them," said CATS in a statement. “This goes far beyond Onlyfans alone.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
W5 INVESTIGATES Crackdown on treacherous Darien Gap could force migrants to risk more dangerous routes
This week, Avery Haines follows migrants' harrowing journeys across the Darien Gap. Strict new rules to stem the flood of migrants through the notorious stretch of dense jungle appear to be working, but advocates fear it could backfire.
Harris trolls Trump at Vegas rally and L.A. fundraiser, says her crowds are 'pretty big'
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris poked at Donald Trump over crowd sizes, his refusal to debate again and his privileged background on Sunday as she hauled in campaign cash in California and held a raucous rally at the same Nevada venue where the Republican nominee had appeared just two weeks ago.
Here are the country's most popular baby names, according to Statistics Canada
If you're struggling to find a name for your baby, you can get some ideas from a new list of popular names.
Ontario pedestrian dies after being struck by OPP vehicle
A pedestrian has died after reportedly getting struck by an OPP cruiser in Bala early Sunday morning.
John Ashton, 'Beverly Hills Cop' actor, dies at 76
John Ashton, the veteran character actor who memorably played the gruff but lovable police detective John Taggart in the 'Beverly Hills Cop' films, has died. He was 76.
What is open and closed this National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
This Monday, Sept. 30 is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a federal statutory holiday and day of remembrance for the Indigenous children who never came home from Canadian residential schools, as well as those who survived them.
Earth will have a temporary 'mini moon' for 2 months
The space rock — 2024 PT5 — was first spotted in August by astronomers at Complutense University of Madrid using a powerful telescope located in Sutherland, South Africa.
Latest in Lebanon: Hezbollah addresses risk of Israeli land invasion
Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem, in his first public address since Israel assassinated the group's chief last week, said the movement is ready to confront any Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon.
Rustad wants B.C. Indigenous rights law repealed. Chief sees that as 40-year setback
British Columbia saw a rare unanimous vote in its legislature in October 2019, when members passed a law adopting the United Nations Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, setting out standards including free, prior and informed consent for actions affecting them.