OnlyFans has suspended a plan to ban sexually explicit content following an outcry from its creators and advocates for sex workers.
The subscription site said in a statement Wednesday that the planned ban was “no longer required due to banking partners’ assurances that OnlyFans can support all genres of creators” and declined to answer further questions.
OnlyFans had said it would ban explicit content beginning Oct. 1, blaming policies of banks and payment processors for the policy change. “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 a week earlier.
OnlyFans has become famous as a place where sex workers can get paid in a safer way as well as a space for celebrities to interact with fans.
The policy change upset the site’s creators, many of whom threatened to move to another website. A lot of sex workers joined OnlyFans during the pandemic when in-person venues shut down or became more dangerous because of COVID-19. OnlyFans says it has 130 million users and 2 million creators who have collectively earned $5 billion US.