OnlyFans CEO discusses the reasons behind the change in policy

OnlyFans CEO discusses the reasons behind the change in policy
OnlyFans CEO discusses the reasons behind the change in policy

According to the latest news, Tim Stokely, OnlyFans founder, and CEO said it is due to banks that the platform banned sexually explicit content. In an interview with the Financial Times, he said “The change in policy, we had no choice — the short answer is banks.”

Stokely has named three major banks which refused services to OnlyFans because of “reputational risk” associated with the UK based OnlyFans. The three banks are Bank of New York Mellon, Metro Bank, and JPMorgan Chase. He said Bank of New York Mellon specifically “flagged and rejected” every wire transaction involving OnlyFans and threatened its ability to pay creators.

Last week, Bloomberg reported “banking partners and payment providers” had pressured OnlyFans into banning the promotion of sexually explicit material from 1st October onwards. The ban will affect anything that “shows, promotes, advertises, or refers to” real or simulated sex, masturbation, and sex-related bodily fluids. However, it will still allow nudity.

Payment processors like MasterCard and Visa are the bottlenecks of the globalized digital economy and they have recently clamped down on the use of their cards to pay for sexual content.

Here, Stokely’s comments have singled out banks as the primary drivers behind the change in policy. He said JPMorgan Chase was “particularly aggressive in closing accounts of sex workers” while Metro Bank had closed OnlyFans’ account on short notice in 2019. In the recent interview, Stokely didn’t disclose the company’s current banking partners.

OnlyFans is the latest web company to limit sexual content following platforms like Tumblr, Patreon, and eBay. When it was first reported that OnlyFans is cracking down on sexual content, Axios reported that OnlyFans has struggled to raise money from investors due to the “porn problem”.

Maria Janulis
Maria is a Florida-based columnist, working in the Journalism industry for the last five and a half years. She spends most of her time interacting with the like-minded group of people on social media.