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OnlyFans is a British subscription-based social media and video hosting company created in 2016. It rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic and its platform is best known for hosting pornography, though it also hosts a variety of content in other genres, including physical fitness classes and music promotion. Content on the platform is user-generated and monetized via monthly subscriptions, tips, and pay-per-view. The company takes 20% of these fees and creators keep the remaining 80%. It launched a free safe-for-work streaming platform, OFTV, in 2021.

As of May 2023, OnlyFans had more than 3 million registered creators and 220 million registered users.

Company overview
OnlyFans is a British subscription-based video on demand service and social media network. It acts as a video hosting service, allowing content creators to upload videos and garner subscribers to their content. Subscribers pay creators in monthly instalments, in one-time tips, or via pay-per-view. The company takes 20% of these fees.

Creators on OnlyFans produce a variety of content in different genres, including pornographic content, cooking shows, fitness classes, and music promotion. In addition to the user-generated content on the platform, OnlyFans operates OFTV, a free app and streaming service with safe-for-work original shows and curated user-generated videos. The company also partners with Spring to allow creators to advertise merchandise, sales from which OnlyFans does not take a percentage.

As of May 2023, OnlyFans had 3 million registered creators and 220 million registered consumers. A study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior found a majority of the user base as of 2022 was heterosexual or bisexual white, married men.

The company employs approximately 1,000 people, 80% of whom focus on content moderation and support. It had 2021 revenues of US$932 million. It is led by chief executive officer (CEO) Keily Blair and owned by Fenix International Limited.

Founding and early years
OnlyFans was founded in 2016 by Tim Stokely as a means for creators to monetize content on their social media feeds.

In October 2018, MyFreeCams founder Leonid Radvinsky acquired a 75% stake in OnlyFans. After the acquisition, OnlyFans became increasingly focused on not-safe-for-work content. By November 2019, the site had 7.5 million users. In January 2020, activists used the platform to seek relief donations for victims of Australian bushfires. Kaylen Ward estimated that she raised more than US$1 million between her own campaign and a partnership with OnlyFans.

Growth
Amateur and professional sex workers drove OnlyFans early growth, a process further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the recession it caused. Between March and April of 2020, the user and creator base grew by 75%.

In February 2020, Buzzfeed News reported that OnlyFans had been hacked and as many as four terabytes of paywalled creator content had been published on various social media platforms. The company denied that such a leak had occurred.

The site grew rapidly after it was mentioned by Beyoncé in the remix of the Megan Thee Stallion song, "Savage", released in April 2020. Traffic increased by 15% and CEO Tim Stokely claimed OnlyFans was seeing approximately 200,000 new users and 6,0008,000 new creators register daily. The company began charging value-added tax in the summer of 2020 following conversations with HM Revenue and Customs. By December 2020, OnlyFans had 85 million users and more than 1 million creators, generating more than US$2 billion in sales that year.

2020 also saw numerous celebrities, including Cardi B, Rebecca Minkoff, and Tyler Posey, as well as media companies like Munchies and Barstool Sports join the platform, which further boosted interest in the site. Bella Thorne broke OnlyFans earnings records when she joined the platform in August 2020, generating US$2 million in a week, including US$1 million in a 24-hour period. Thorne promised subscribers nude photos, but instead provided only photos in lingerie, leading to a large number of chargebacks. Following the chargebacks, OnlyFans limited the amount creators could charge and how quickly creators could receive their payouts, though the company said it was unrelated to Thorne and part of "an evolving process." Sex work advocates called Thorne a "tourist" in the sex work industry and blamed her for the policy change, saying it would cause them to lose a portion of their income. Thorne's record was broken in April 2021 by Bhad Bhabie, who garnered US$1 million in six hours. The broken record led to social media criticism of Bhabie's subscribers, as her OnlyFans account launched shortly after she turned 18.

Content diversification
The user base of OnlyFans grew to 120 million by March 2021 and had collectively generated US$3 billion in sales for creators. That month, the company launched its creative fund to provide £20,000 grants to four emerging musicians in the United Kingdom, as selected by Stokely and Stefflon Don.

The site's content, which had been largely focused on the sex work industry, increasingly diversified in 2021. It attracted comedians, musicians, chefs, and fitness experts who produced non-sexually explicit content. OnlyFans paired this influx of safe-for-work content with the launch of OFTV, its free streaming service and app. By June of 2021, the company was valued at more than US$1 billion.

OnlyFans briefly entertained banning pornography from the platform in the fall of 2021. It announced the planned ban on 19 August 2021, to take effect that October, citing pressure from banks including Metro Bank, BNY Mellon, and JPMorgan Chase. The decision received widespread backlash from OnlyFans users and creators, and it was reversed on 25 August 2021. The company said it had "secured assurances" necessary to continue hosting sexually explicit content. That December, Stokely stepped down as CEO and was replaced by Amrapali Gan.

In 2022, content creators from Russia and Belarus reported they were unable to withdraw funds or were excluded from the platform as part of the economic sanctions following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. OnlyFans said that this was because global sanctions meant the company had 'very limited methods to pay creator accounts linked to Russia and Belarus'. OnlyFans later said that they had restored full functionality to these accounts.

The same year, OnlyFans expanded its creative fund, turning it into a reality competition show on OFTV. The program, titled Creative Fund: Fashion Edition, featured Rebecca Minkoff and was judged by Law Roach, Sir John and Maeve Reilly; the winner received $50,000, and $25,000 was awarded to second and third place. A four-part Comedy Edition of the program in the U.K. and Ireland aired in 2023, with a similar prize fund. It was judged by London Hughes, Jamali Maddix and Mae Martin; Jack Guinness hosted and Sofie Hagen appeared.

In August 2022, OnlyFans was named a defendant in a lawsuit with Meta Platforms, alleging that OnlyFans had bribed Meta to divert traffic from the Instagram accounts of performers who used rival sites by adding the accounts to a terrorism watchlist database, effectively shadow banning the users. In response, OnlyFans said it was 'not aware of any evidence which supports these allegations.' The plaintiffs withdrew the bribery claim in July 2023 and the case was dismissed in August 2023, with the court noting that it did not have jurisdiction over OnlyFans.

OnlyFans expanded its offerings on OFTV that year, releasing the reality show Model Farmers, hosted by Becky Houze. The show features celebrities working on a farm in the United Kingdom. The company also signed deals with the Sims family, who starred in the English reality show The Only Way is Essex, and Whitney Cummings to star in shows for OFTV, slated to release in 2023. Cummings also started an account on OnlyFans main site. Keily Blair succeeded Gan as CEO in July 2023.

Safety
Concerns about the safety of users and distribution of child sexual abuse material have been raised about OnlyFans. A 2020 BBC Three documentary alleged that many Twitter users advertising 'nudes4sale' or similar tactics belonged to minors, who used OnlyFans to distribute their content. The following year, BBC News reported on multiple instances of minors creating accounts and uploading explicit material to be distributed by OnlyFans.

In August 2021, U.S. Representative Ann Wagner led 100 members of the United States Congress in penning a letter to the United States Department of Justice demanding the agency investigate OnlyFans for failing to stop the spread of child sexual abuse material on its platform. The same month, OnlyFans released its first transparency report with details on its safety compliance program and how often it received requests for information on user accounts related to content created by underage users. It also reported requests related to other violations, including copyright and trademark infringement and the violation of platform rules. The company said it had received 783 requests for information related to child sexual abuse material from June 2020 through July 2021, and in July 2021 had deactivated 15 accounts for uploading illicit material of children. Gizmodo criticised the report, noting its confusing blend of figures and unclear methodologies.

Since 2019, the platform's account verification process has involved a selfie headshot including an identification photo. The process has since been further enhanced, though the company did not specify how, and BBC News reported that it was able to defeat the system. OnlyFans has been criticised by U.K. police for not doing enough to protect children on the platform.

The company works with online exploitation agencies, including the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, to combat child sexual abuse on its platforms. It gave $500,000 to the Child Rescue Coalition in 2022 to help fund a project intended to investigate adult online behaviour that is sexually threatening to children. The same year, OnlyFans was praised in a report by its government regulator, Ofcom, for its use of third-party verification tools.

The company partnered with StopNCII.org in 2023, an online tool that uses a hash function system to prevent the spread of revenge porn and other non-consensual image sharing.

Creators
As of September 2022, OnlyFans had more than 3 million registered creators producing content in a variety of categories, including pornography, instructional videos, fitness regimens, and music promotion. Notable creators include DJ Khaled, Fat Joe, Carmen Electra, Tyga, Iggy Azalea, Amouranth, and Markiplier.

Recognition
OnlyFans has been the recipient of several innovation-related awards, and was named one of the 100 most influential companies by Time in 2021 and one of 2021's most innovative social media companies by Fast Company. The Financial Times named OnlyFans one of the fastest-growing companies in Europe in 2022 and 2023.