25 / 05 / 2026
11 Minute Read

OnlyFans: Why it’s nothing else than prostitution.

 

Many women point the finger at sex workers, giving them moral lessons on their life choices and hoping to instill in them a feeling of shame and guilt for having chosen the oldest profession in the world as their profession.

And would you believe that among these self-righteous preachers, thousands are active on OnlyFans. They rebrand their activity by inventing titles like "Adult Web Content Creators" to bolster their egos and make themselves more socially acceptable. And you know what? Their numbers have skyrocketed since OnlyFans was created and a recent study among university students even shows that 70% of them does not find OnlyFans immoral. So how is it that the more sex work becomes mainstream, the more it's stigmatized (by the media, governments, etc.), the more the hypocrisy surrounding this industry intensifies, and the more we're led to believe that as long as there's no physical contact between people, it's not prostitution?

In this article, I attempt to set the record straight in order to demonstrate that OnlyFans is the perfect product of a society with paradoxical values.

 

What’s OnlyFans ?

OnlyFans is a social media platform launched in 2018 where creators post content that is hidden behind a paywall. Unlike traditional social networks, users pay a subscription fee to access a creator's exclusive photos, videos, and direct messages. It was founded by British entrepreneur Tim Stokely and in 2018, Leonid Radvinsky, an entrepreneur with experience in the adult entertainment industry, acquired a majority stake in the company. His leadership helped steer the platform toward its current dominant position in the market.

The platform has grown to include millions of creators and hundreds of millions of users. As of 2024-2025, OnlyFans hosts over 4 million creators and serves more than 300 to 400 million registered users worldwide. Creators keep 80% of their earnings, while OnlyFans takes a 20% commission. In 2023, the platform generated over 6.6 billion in transactions.

A major turning point came during the 2020 lockdowns. With many people stuck at home looking for entertainment and others losing jobs and seeking income, the platform's popularity exploded. But two other factors have contributed to OnlyFans' explosive growth and popularity. First, OnlyFans allows nudity and explicit material, which is banned on mainstream platforms like Instagram and Facebook. This has led to it being nicknamed the "Instagram of Porn". Second, the platform allows creators to earn money directly from their audience without relying on advertising revenue or third-party studios. This model gives creators control over their content and work schedule.

So, we have here an open-air prostitution platform that appears to be the largest prostitution platform in the world. While deterrent measures are being implemented worldwide to close down or restrict the number of pornographic websites and the nature of their content, OnlyFans, on the contrary, is thriving.

While the EU is quietly implementing its plans to ban (in countries where prostitution is legal) the presence of an intermediary (managing a brothel, providing rooms or apartments for sex workers, managing a website allowing sex workers to advertise their services, etc.) in an effort to combat pimping, OnlyFans takes a 20% commission on each transaction, and this doesn't seem to raise any eyebrows; quite the opposite, in fact.

When someone wants to become a sex worker and expresses it openly, they are singled out and it's assumed they are being forced into this choice, which cannot be of their own free will. On the other hand, when a girl chooses to earn a living through OnlyFans, no one questions it, even though online it's simply another form of prostitution, but prostitution, nonetheless. So, we criminalize and dehumanize prostitution involving physical contact, which is more anonymous and where the exchange of services is still primarily in cash, in order to valorize and glamorize online prostitution. This online prostitution identifies all its members (although the anonymity of creators and consumers is not disclosed to them; the platform obviously knows the identity of all its members, and especially the creators, who must provide their real identities to get paid) and allows for tracking every transaction in minute detail.

Interesting...

 

OnlyFans : A form of prostitution

People who will argue that OnlyFans isn’t related to prostitution will tell you that selling a video of yourself doing a sexual act is legal (as pornography or adult content). However, exchanging that same sexual act for money in a room with another person is illegal. The law makes a clear distinction based on physical presence. Therefore, legally, according to this narrative, it is not prostitution. For them OnlyFans is pornography and not prostitution.

Pornography involves filming sexual acts for a mass or subscription audience. Prostitution involves performing a sexual act on or with a specific person for payment. An OnlyFans creator is, by definition, a pornographic actor or content creator, not a prostitute. They are selling a recorded performance, not a physical encounter. This same people will also argue that most definitions of prostitution require the customer to be the direct recipient of the sexual act. On OnlyFans, the customer is a viewer of a recorded act. The act is performed on a sex toy, a partner, or alone but not on the customer's body.

Interestingly enough, the deliberately short and reductive definition that the Cambridge dictionary chooses to support is the one described above, which defines prostitution as: "The business of having sex for money" (implicitly, with someone).

To defend the opposing viewpoint (which is also mine), I choose a source just as valid as the Cambridge dictionary. According to Webster's dictionary, prostitution is: "the act or practice of engaging in sex acts and especially sexual intercourse in exchange for pay: SEX WORK." This is already a more complete definition of prostitution that includes physical contact between people, but not only "(sex acts)."

Indeed, that position argues that OnlyFans falls under the spirit or a broader definition of prostitution and according to some sociologists, that definition should be modernized such as: "The exchange of sexual services for compensation, where 'services' includes digital sexual acts and intimate engagement." Under this view, performing a sexual act on camera for a paying customer is a "service," even if no physical contact occurs. The camera is the medium of transaction. This is exactly how many OnlyFans interactions work. A subscriber pays a specific fee (tip or pay-per-view message) and requests a specific act ("Show me X"). The creator performs that act, records it, and sends it directly to that paying customer. The transactional loop is identical to prostitution, just digitized. To push it even further, many creators offer live one-on-one video calls (e.g., on Skype or Snapchat arranged via OnlyFans). The customer pays by the minute to watch the creator perform a sexual act live, often giving instructions. While still no physical contact, this is functionally a live, exclusive, real-time sexual performance for one paying individual. Many would argue this is indistinguishable from a "cam girl" which many jurisdictions do consider a form of prostitution (or a closely related crime). “Sexting” services are also popular on OnlyFans. Subscribers pay per message for the creator to send them pornographic text and images in a "real-time" conversation.

In this sense, OnlyFans acts as a massive, legalized digital red-light district or a solicitation platform. It normalizes the direct transaction of money for sexual acts. The only difference between a street prostitute and an OnlyFans creator is the physical distance and the recording of the act. If the act is performed for a camera instead of a body, is it fundamentally different in moral or transactional terms? In my opinion, it isn’t.

 

OnlyFans : What should you keep in mind before engaging into it?

Before joining OnlyFans (as either a creator or a consumer) it's crucial to understand that the platform operates in a space of significant personal and legal risk. While offering opportunities for income, it currently lacks robust legal protections and faces serious vulnerabilities related to privacy and data security. My concerns about OnlyFans mainly revolve around the lack of guaranteed anonymity, the threat of data hacking, and the potential consequences of a shifting legal definition of prostitution.

While you can try to protect your identity, absolute anonymity for creators is a myth on OnlyFans. The platform's own requirements and business practices create several points of exposure.

1. Mandatory identity verification: To become a creator, you cannot be anonymous to OnlyFans. The platform requires you to submit a government-issued ID and a live selfie for verification to confirm you are over 18. This creates a permanent digital record linking your real identity to your creator account. For consumers, while you can use a username, your payment information is also linked to your real identity.

2. Risk of "Chatter" exposure: A major hidden risk is the use of third-party agencies, often called "chatters." Court documents reveal that large management agencies (like Creators Inc.) are given direct access to a creator's OnlyFans account to impersonate them in direct messages with fans. This exposes your private conversations and potentially your personal data to unknown third parties who are not bound by the same privacy promises. In some cases, agencies have been known to lock creators out of their own accounts by changing passwords.

3. Stalking and Real-World harm: Fans can sometimes become obsessive. There are documented reports of stalkers using details inadvertently revealed in content (e.g., a view from a window, a local landmark) to track down and harass creators in person. The digital barrier is not always a safe physical barrier.

4. Personal data exposure: Your private information is not as secure as you might hope. The platform's own terms of service grant it broad powers to investigate and suspend accounts, often based on its own "suspicion" of a violation, without needing concrete proof. Furthermore, a whistleblower revealed that former employees retained access to customer support systems containing sensitive data like IDs and banking information.

Data breaches are a recurring and severe threat on OnlyFans, and the consequences for both creators and consumers can be devastating. When an OnlyFans data leak occurs, creators face some critical threats that go far beyond simple password theft.

Major leaks often involve complex, multi-pronged attacks exploiting vulnerabilities not only on OnlyFans but also on third-party services linked to creators' accounts, highlighting a weak point in the platform's overall security chain. Leaked information frequently includes real names, email addresses, payment details, and private messages, not just explicit content. This can trigger identity theft, financial fraud, reputational damage, blackmail, and severe emotional distress. Even swift legal action offers limited help. A UK court case involving scraped data showed that once confidential information is public, it is nearly impossible to "put the cat back in the bag." Injunctions often come too late to prevent widespread dissemination. Emerging "sextortion" schemes are also a big risk that involve scammers posing as legitimate agencies. After gaining access to a creator's account, they weaponize the creator's own content to demand large sums of money under threat of public exposure.

And what will you do if the official definition of prostitution were to change? The legal status of online sex work is currently in flux. A change in the law could have profound effects on who is considered a criminal and who is considered a worker. Let’s illustrate a few examples.

In France: Prostitution is legally defined as requiring physical contact. Therefore, webcamming and OnlyFans content creation do not fall under prostitution laws, and the platforms cannot be prosecuted for pimping. However, France recently passed a law targeting the "pimp 2.0" agents who manage creators, creating a new crime of "online sexual exploitation" with penalties of up to 7 years in prison.

In Sweden: In a landmark move, Sweden passed a law effective July 1, 2025, that explicitly criminalizes the purchase of personalized sexual services online, treating it the same as paying for sex in person. This law makes it illegal to pay someone to perform a sexual act remotely, such as through a live video stream, if the act is specifically for the buyer to view. Paying for pre-recorded content remains legal. Creators themselves are not criminalized, but their primary source of income is. The debate is not just legal but deeply ideological, and its outcome will shape the future of the platform.

In the USA: The "Tax Man" complication has brought a new dimension to the debate. Under a recent tax law, tips earned for "pornographic activity" are not eligible for a "no tax on tips" deduction. This has forced the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) into the uncomfortable position of having to define what is and isn't pornographic. Enforcement will reportedly require IRS agents to view creators' content to make a subjective determination, creating a bizarre and invasive new government oversight mechanism.

 

OnlyFans : My final word

To me, it seems that the digitalization of sexual services has led to some development, but not necessarily to more progress. OnlyFans does fit a modern definition of "digital prostitution" because it involves the direct, one-to-one exchange of money for a custom-performed sexual service. By choosing 100% online transactions, creators of erotic/pornographic content and their consumers expose themselves on the internet and to the authorities like never before. Since prostitution exists and always will, why don’t we go back to the basics by opting ​​for the greater discretion and anonymity offered by brothels, independent escorts, or erotic massage studios?

 

Janet – The Velvet Rooms

 

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