OnlyFans is a notorious subscription-based service platform known for its pornographic content. In the eight years since it first launched, OnlyFans has skyrocketed, with more than 170 million subscribers and 1.5 to 2 million content creators.Fight the New Drug. (2022). Traffickers Reportedly Try to Recruit OnlyFans Content Creators, Report Finds. Fight the New Drug. June 9, 2022. https://fightthenewdrug.org/onlyfans-content-creators-report-the-avery-center/Copy
The company prides itself on its authenticity, stating on the website, “OnlyFans is the social platform revolutionizing creator and fan connections.”“OnlyFans.” n.d. Onlyfans.com. https://onlyfans.com/?ref=298758323Copy It is all about the relationships between subscribers and creators and the potential for companionship. OnlyFans gratifies itself as a seemingly unique platform that allows creators to build “authentic connections with their fans.”
Their model allows fans to pay for exclusive content and chat with the creators themselves, but some fans have discovered that it’s not always the creator they’re messaging with.
“Who are you?”
Robert Kunz says he fell in love with a blonde Hungarian porn star on OnlyFans named Nikki and that she loved him too. He paid her thousands for explicit videos and extra for tips.
Then Nikki started to forget things they had previously discussed, and Kunz realized he was not talking to Nikki at all but to multiple other people posing as her.
Chatters are third-party hires that agencies and content creator recruit to interact with their fans. Though OnlyFans has separated itself from the creators’ business and does not endorse these third parties, it has profited from the impersonators.
The OnlyFans appeal
The possibility of intimacy is appealing. It is what fuels OnlyFans. People want to be seen and understood. It’s no surprise that those feelings of loneliness are what often bring people to pornography.
A number of peer-reviewed studies have found a link between pornography consumption and mental health outcomes like depression, Harper, C., & Hodgins, D. C. (2016). Examining Correlates of Problematic Internet Pornography Use Among University Students. Journal of behavioral addictions, 5(2), 179–191. https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.5.2016.022Copy anxiety,Wordecha, M., Wilk, M., Kowalewska, E., Skorko, M., Łapiński, A., & Gola, M. (2018). 'Pornographic binges' as a key characteristic of males seeking treatment for compulsive sexual behaviors: Qualitative and quantitative 10-week-long diary assessment. Journal of behavioral addictions, 7(2), 433–444. https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.7.2018.33Copy loneliness,Butler, M. H., Pereyra, S. A., Draper, T. W., Leonhardt, N. D., & Skinner, K. B. (2018). Pornography Use and Loneliness: A Bidirectional Recursive Model and Pilot Investigation. Journal of sex & marital therapy, 44(2), 127–137. https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2017.1321601Copy lower life satisfaction,Willoughby, B. J., Young-Petersen, B., & Leonhardt, N. D. (2018). Exploring trajectories of pornography use through adolescence and emerging adulthood.55(3), 297-309. doi:10.1080/00224499.2017.1368977Copy poorer self-esteem, and overall mental health.Koletić G. (2017). Longitudinal associations between the use of sexually explicit material and adolescents' attitudes and behaviors: A narrative review of studies. Journal of adolescence, 57, 119–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2017.04.006Copy
Consumers often turn to porn to connect with a screen, to experience something they feel is missing in their day-to-day – porn – and in this case, OnlyFans is a way to cope with those feelings.
How chatters are creeping into DMs
Unfortunately, this is where the deception starts. Reuters found that “… many popular OnlyFans creators, including porn stars earning millions of dollars through the website, outsource the task of messaging their subscribers to paid impersonators known as ‘chatters.’ It is their job to coax subscribers into tipping the creators and buying more porn.”Marshall, A. R. C., Szep, J., & So, L. (2024). Onlyfans’ Porn Juggernaut Fueled by a Deception. Reuters. July 30, 2024. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/onlyfans-sex-chatters/Copy
Agencies might provide guides and scripts to these chatters so they know what to say in different situations. Photos of the models are issued to the chatter beforehand to be used when needed. Along with this, custom profiles are made for every subscriber. “A profile might include a subscriber’s home country, job, pets, hobbies… this allows a seamless shift-change with the next chatter without raising the subscriber’s suspicion.”Fight the New Drug. n.d. How Porn Can Impact Mental Health and Fuel Loneliness. Fight the New Drug. https://fightthenewdrug.org/how-porn-can-impact-mental-health-and-fuel-loneliness/Copy Though the conversation might be “private,” there is no way to keep information from being stored and used later. You never know how many chatters have access to your chat history.
Chatters follow a script, match the fan’s voice and language, and appear to be the creator.
“But I’m not stupid,” Kuntz says after discovering he was not talking with his Hungarian lover on OnlyFans. He says he was tricked – subjected to a false sense of safety and intimacy created behind the wall of OnlyFans messaging.
The dangers
Beyond the already existing issues of OnlyFans, including its lack of safety measures for children and the fact that it profits from CSEM (child sexual exploitation material) and exploited individuals, including those trafficked, it’s also deceiving its users.
Chatters create a major privacy issue. Chatters can see entire chat histories; they have access to all the private interactions between fans and creators, which could include naked photos, sexual fantasies, sexual history, and identifiable information, including their work, family, relationships, and even their name.
The OnlyFans website pledges a commitment to protecting personal data, but it doesn’t disclose the risk that you might be chatting with a complete stranger under the guise of a creator. They say they don’t deal with third parties or chatters, so good luck if your info gets leaked.
Besides the issue of privacy, realizing the person you’ve been communicating with isn’t who you thought can cause a serious emotional toll.
Kunz says, “The people who impersonated the woman of his dreams left him so devastated that he had to seek therapy and take time off work.”
No one wants to experience that level of betrayal and deceit.
A harsh reality…
Chatters, along with their respective agencies and creators, are taking advantage of people seeking connection. They convince subscribers they are the models and influencers they impersonate. They are urging fans to buy more and more porn and gain access to private information. This is more than just a minor issue; it is deceptive conduct.
It is no secret that OnlyFans takes 20% of creators’ earnings. Creators made OnlyFans almost $1.1 billion in 2022. Custom porn sales and tips made slightly more revenue than subscriptions.
OnlyFans says they forbid any “misleading or deceptive conduct.” Still, when looking at the use of chatters amongst their biggest creators and the chatters probing people into buying more and more porn, it is evident that they are profiting from the deception.
Protect yourself when talking to someone online
OnlyFans profits from users’ deception. Be careful who you talk to online and what information you share. Remember that chatter deception is only a fraction of the issue with OnlyFans.
Find real connections with the people closest to you – friends, family, and partners. They are ready to walk this road by your side.
