The content platform defended its ban on pornography, saying it had been prompted do to so because of difficulties getting financial services if it didn’t.
OnlyFans banned pornographic content after being denied interbank wires by banks including New York-based BNY Mellon, the London-based start-up’s founder-CEO Tim Stokely said in an interview.
The decision unleashed a maelstrom among an estimated 2 million content creators – many of them women – who make a living by selling adult content on the platform. Performers like Blac Chyna reportedly earn millions monthly from OnlyFans subscription-based plans.
Sites like OnlyFans are meant to hand creators – especially women – more control over their own content and revenue. An increasing wariness by financial services firms to cater to adult content complicates these efforts. The ban, effective from October 1, is seen as a war on pornography.
Stokely, the CEO, said banks had made OnlyFans’ life difficult by holding up payments. «We pay over one million creators over $300 million every month, and making sure that these funds get to creators involves using the banking sector.»
Stokely said J.P. Morgan was «particularly aggressive in closing accounts of sex workers or…any business that supports sex workers.» OnlyFans’ reported 130 million consumers largely use it for porn, though the platform has tried to push other entertainers like fitness influencers or musicians. Celebrities including Cardi B have also recently joined.
Stokely is the son of ex-Barclays investment banker Guy Stokely. OnlyFans’ finance chief is John Carlyle, a former Lehman Brothers and J.P. Morgan banker.