OnlyFans has made a major decision to soon ban all sexually explicit content from its platform. This recent announcement will leave it’s content creator’s income in jeopardy. The platform was initially based in the UK and launched in 2016 by its British founder Timothy Stokely, his retired father, and brother. The Stokely family is no longer the full owners of OnlyFans as American investor, Lenoid Radvinsky, acquired 75% of the platform. The heightened success of the service is credited to the pandemic shutdown last year. By May 2020, the site had accumulated about 8,000 new creators per day.
The site’s content creators are able to post behind a subscription paywall and charge users a monthly fee to see their content. At an average charge of $5 to $50 a month, creators accumulated a massive gain in income from the platform. The foundation of OnlyFans’s rapid growth is the posting of sexual content on its platform. Many saw it as an opportunity during the shutdown to create passive income or even make it their main job. It is reported that today, OnlyFans has about 50 million registered users and 1 million content creators. Forbes estimated the majority owner, Radvinskly, is now a billionaire. The platform’s net revenue in 2020 was $375 million. It is projected, by the end of this year, to be $1.2 billion and $2.5 billion dollars next year. Despite the gradual momentum, the company has decided to veer away from being known as solely an adult content site. “In order to ensure long-term sustainability of our platform, and host an inclusive community, we must evolve content guidelines.” OnlyFans officials stated. The change is placed to go into effect October 1st.
