We’re ‘OnlyFans’ of Protecting Children
Having grown to a paying user base of over 120 million people since 2019, it’s safe to say that OnlyFans has become a well-recognised platform, and carved out a large niche for its creators to make a bit of cash in exchange for showing some skin. Sounds pretty good right? And having only 20% taken as a hosting fee isn’t so bad, so even teachers and nurses have flocked to the site to earn some extra income, and in some cases way more than their normal salary.
Unfortunately, the BBC recently published an investigative article outlining how OnlyFans “new exceptionally effective” age verification system just doesn’t do enough to keep underage and illegal content off the site, and once again we find ourselves seriously disappointed in another major company failing to protect its underage and vulnerable users.
With many creators on the site bringing in thousands each month through posting explicit content, it’s no surprise that people would want to get a piece of the 3bn dollars that is paid out annually to creators. So, for the kids that see their peers or older idols with thousands of followers on social media and “wanna be just like them,” it’s no surprise they are looking for ways around age verification to cash in on the OnlyFans phenomenon.
And undoubtedly, the draw of seeing thousands of dollars deposited into your bank each month is a major reason these underage accounts on OnlyFans to continue popping up, with one 16-year-old girl bragging to her school career advisor how much she was making through the site being a reason she didn’t need any advice. We wish that quick money is the only reason these children would want to expose themselves, but it’s not.
It is much, much worse.
Through this BBC investigation, several stories involving underage children being convinced to take part in ‘co-authored’ videos by older individuals, children being blackmailed through posted content, and minors having their images uploaded without consent, and even being trafficked and exploited through the platform have been discovered. Given how easy it was for the BBC to create a page for an underage creator by using an ID of someone much older, tech savvy teens and criminal's intent on spreading child abuse content through the site clearly don’t have much of a barrier. From the dozens of examples, the BBC referenced from schools, police reports, anonymous Childline extracts, there really wasn’t much to be heard from OnlyFans other than access to the platform by children was an ‘oversight’ and that the reported pages have been shut down. But it’s already too late.
Waiting until a well-known news source like the BBC highlights certain shortcomings is not a way to combat the child abuse and exploitation all over the internet. Companies need to be held accountable at all times, and not just apologize or make excuses when exposed. Prevention is the solution, not pretending you’re doing enough and relying on a clearly flawed “exceptionally effective” verification system to hide behind in the press.
“The company are not doing enough to put in place the safeguards that prevent children exploiting the opportunity to generate money, but also for children to be exploited.” — Chief Constable Simon Bailey
A prime example of why companies need to do more to protect children and stop illegal content and child abuse from happening on their sites can clearly be shown by the trauma one underage OnlyFans user feels even after her page was shut down. In an interview with her mother, BBC News was told that “she won’t go out at all, really, she doesn’t want to be seen” and her plans to attend university have been put on hold for fear that she may be recognized after her images were leaked from the platform and spread all over the internet. This, alongside blackmail, sextortion, and sex trafficking of missing children that has been linked back to OnlyFans should be more than enough to drive legislation change, and we can hope that the UK Online Safety Bill will begin the process of protecting vulnerable individuals online, but only time will tell if it is strict enough to pressure companies to do the right thing.
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