OnlyFans Says It Will Suspend Porn Ban

OnlyFans announced on Wednesday morning that it will suspend a planned policy change to prohibit "sexually explicit content," following backlash from its adult content creator community.

In a tweet from the OnlyFans official account, the company said, "Thank you to everyone for making your voices heard. We have secured assurances necessary to support our diverse creator community and have suspended the planned October 1 policy change. OnlyFans stands for inclusion and we will continue to provide a home for all creators."

A spokesperson for OnlyFans said in a statement to Motherboard: “The proposed October 1, 2021 changes are no longer required due to banking partners' assurances that OnlyFans can support all genres of creators.”

On Thursday, OnlyFans announced it would ban sexual content, including partnered and solo sex, as well as graphic depictions of genitals, starting October 1. In an official statement, the platform cited pressure from banks and payment processors; in an interview on Tuesday, the company's founder, Tim Stokley, blamed banks directly for making it impossible to do business with sex workers. 

The decision to ban sexually explicit content would ostracize a huge portion of the company's creators—the people who have made OnlyFans the billion-dollar company that it is today. According to this tweet, OnlyFans heard the backlash from these creators and changed course. 

The initial announcement that sexually explicit content would be banned was made through statements to the press; it was not until 24 hours later that the company launched new terms and conditions and emailed users directly about the change. Emails from OnlyFans support have given creators conflicting answers about the policy, some denying that it was happening at all. Many adult content creators have spent the last week since that announcement finding new homes for their content and worrying about how their income would be affected.