“It’s completely unconscionable,” U.S. Consultant Ann Wagner, a Missouri Republican, mentioned in a press release in regards to the abuses alleged within the complaints.
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“These findings verify what my workplace has recognized for years: Individuals are being sexually exploited on OnlyFans,” mentioned Wagner, who sponsored a federal legislation handed in 2018 that permits victims to sue web sites that knowingly host abusive industrial intercourse exercise. “Congress and federal legislation enforcement should do extra.”
By means of public information requests to the most important U.S. legislation enforcement businesses and a assessment of courtroom instances, Reuters recognized 128 instances through which adults complained that sexual content material that includes them had been posted on OnlyFans with out their consent between January 2019 and November 2023. A Florida girl, alleging a video of her rape was posted and bought on OnlyFans, filed a lawsuit in November 2022 in opposition to the platform underneath federal legal guidelines together with Wagner’s.
Within the UK, the place OnlyFans is predicated, Reuters documented 18 complaints of nonconsensual pornography showing on the location.
“Social media platforms have develop into a protected harbor for predators,” U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, mentioned in a press release to Reuters. “Rape victims – together with kids – aren’t solely violated on the time of their assault, however they’re victimized again and again with the fast unfold of their abuse materials on-line. Even worse, the platforms revenue from this exercise. That is unacceptable.”
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U.S. Consultant Jennifer Wexton, a Virginia Democrat, known as for higher accountability for perpetrators to make sure “we’re defending the rights and lives of all victims and survivors.” OnlyFans says on its web site that it’s constructing “the most secure social media platform on this planet.” Its CEO, Keily Blair, has mentioned the corporate opinions 100% of content material utilizing human moderators and synthetic intelligence instruments.
In a press release responding to Reuters findings, an OnlyFans spokesperson mentioned that “within the few examples the place dangerous actors have misused our platform,” OnlyFans “eliminated the content material swiftly, banned the consumer and actively supported investigations and prosecutions.” She added that OnlyFans tightened its consent verification procedures in late 2022.
Reuters discovered greater than a dozen complaints of nonconsensual porn that have been filed after that.
In a courtroom submitting, OnlyFans’ U.S. subsidiary, Fenix Web, has mentioned it can search to have the Florida girl’s sex-trafficking case dismissed, citing a federal legislation that offers web sites immunity from fits based mostly on their customers’ posts.
UK-based OnlyFans is one in all 10 firms, together with social media platforms and a porn website, that accomplice with stopNCII.org, a British mission designed to stop the sharing of non-consensual intimate pictures (NCII) on-line.
David Wright, CEO of South West Grid for Studying, the British charity that runs stopNCII.org, didn’t tackle Reuters findings about OnlyFans, however mentioned: “We encourage all platforms to make the identical steps as OnlyFans to stop NCII and work in the direction of the eradication of intimate picture abuse.”
Damian Collins, a British member of parliament, mentioned the Reuters investigation “exhibits there are clearly gaps within the methods being utilized by OnlyFans, and Ofcom, the UK (communications) regulator, ought to problem the corporate based mostly on this proof.”
Collins chaired a parliamentary committee on Britain’s draft On-line Security Invoice, which grew to become legislation in October 2023. The legislation requires social media firms to stop and rapidly take away unlawful content material, together with nonconsensual porn, and to cease kids from accessing dangerous content material or pornography.
Ofcom can positive firms that do not comply as much as 18 million kilos ($23 million) or 10% of their world income, whichever is bigger. Enforcement of the legislation is continuing in phases.
OnlyFans has mentioned it doesn’t know the way a lot grownup content material is on its website. It additionally options sports activities, music and different non-sexual content material.
“I’m involved that if OnlyFans can not say how a lot grownup content material is on its platform, or what number of accounts are devoted to sharing consumer generated pornography, then it doesn’t have sufficiently strong monitoring methods,” Collins mentioned in a press release. “This can not simply be left to importing instruments and AI, there additionally must be efficient human oversight of the platform’s insurance policies.”
A spokesperson for Ofcom instructed Reuters that tackling sexual abuse and different unlawful on-line harms will likely be its precedence underneath the On-line Security Act. The regulator is “already actively partaking with many providers in regards to the robustness of their safety measures, together with OnlyFans, underneath the prevailing video-sharing platform laws,” the spokesperson mentioned.
“We have seen some enhancements because of this engagement, however there’s extra to do.”
In a January report on video-sharing platforms, Ofcom mentioned OnlyFans had launched measures to confirm the age of its British customers and made it simpler for them to report baby intercourse abuse materials.
In a put up on X, James Bethell, a Conservative member of the Home of Lords and campaigner on on-line harms, mentioned he was “skeptical” that OnlyFans gives “a safe platform for sharing authentic porn content material.”
He expressed concern in regards to the website’s distinctive subscription mannequin, through which particular person creators’ content material is hidden behind a paywall.
“OnlyFans has nice PR. However their paywall prevents legislation enforcement from trying to find unlawful content material,” he wrote.
