What is the impact of financial institutions on sexual platforms such as 'Only Fans'?



OnlyFans, an SNS that allows users to set prices themselves and distribute content such as photos and videos as a subscription, says that it can sell pornography directly from pornographic actresses and strippers whose income has been cut off due to the pandemic of the new coronavirus. It was gaining popularity. Overseas newspapers such as The Guardian explain how financial institutions that provide fund settlement affect the platform on which sexual content such as OnlyFans is posted.

The real OnlyFans scandal is the unaccountable power of platforms and banks | Jillian C York | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/28/onlyfans-scandal-platforms-banks-ban-sexual-content-sex-workers

The payments mess that almost scared OnlyFans away from sex work --The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/27/22641095/onlyfans-sex-work-ban-online-porn-payment-processing-controversy

OnlyFans, which has long been tolerant of sexual content, said on August 20, 2021 that some of its affiliated banks stopped sending money to creators. , Prohibit sexually explicit content. ' OnlyFans CEO Tim Stokely said he was reluctant to take the regulation and complained that he was 'targeted by the media for illegal content issues.'

CEO reveals that sexual content regulation of SNS 'OnlyFans' is 'caused by banks' --GIGAZINE



However, on August 25, OnlyFans announced that it would withdraw the ban on sexual content because it was guaranteed that it could support creators of all genres from banks that had stopped sending money. OnlyFans said it will continue to provide equal opportunities for all creators.

OnlyFans announced that 'pornography is OK', because the bank accepted sexual content --GIGAZINE



Although OnlyFans has succeeded in deregulating sexual content this time, some say that 'this turmoil has highlighted the'financial institution's control of sexual content'that has plagued sex workers for many years.' The Guardian points out that it has been raised.

Strippers and some sex workers are completely legal in the United States and the United Kingdom, where OnlyFans is based, but financial institutions tend not to tolerate this. The moral judgments of financial institutions such as banks are often ruthless to the vulnerable, and financial institutions provide services to individuals who say that the way they express and make a living is 'unacceptably sexually explicit.' He said he had made many decisions similar to OnlyFans to reject.

One example is that in 2014 the payment service WePay discontinued its cooperation in a fundraiser initiated by sex worker Eden Alexander. Alexander suffered from drug treatment and started fundraising through the funding platform 'GiveForward' to raise medical expenses. At this time, Mr. Alexander was raising funds without clearly stating that he was a sex worker, but WePay, which was affiliated with GiveForward, said, 'Mr. Alexander may not be aware of the terms of use.' I refused to hand over the funds raised by Mr. Alexander. Eventually, another funding platform, Crowdtilt, settled down with the start of support for Alexander, but said WePay's denial of service highlighted the discrimination faced online by people engaged in sexual content. It was regarded as a problem.

Second, about 10 million posts, or 80% of all content posted, after Pornhub, the world's largest porn site, was suspended from payment processing by international credit card operators Mastercard and Visa. You have deleted the content . This measure by Mastercard and Visa, which are gaining supremacy in online payments,has been pointed out by some as 'de facto censorship ', and a strong wind on sex workers has been made public.



One of the reasons financial institutions are uncooperative with sexual content is that foreign media The Verge points out that 'the risk of refusal to pay is unusually high.' For example, there are many cases where users who purchase sexual content are ashamed of it and refuse to pay and try to get their money back. However, since alliances with financial institutions are indispensable for platforms such as OnlyFans that develop services on the Internet, the current situation is that there is no choice but to continue using it with the risk of not knowing when the policy of the financial institution will change. That is.

OnlyFans is showing an increase in the number of users due to the blockade of the city caused by the pandemic, the increase in unemployment, and the tightening of regulations on Pornhub. The Verge points out that 'OnlyFans may run into danger of being broken from the bank again' and 'it is difficult for creators to leave the platform that built the fan base,' said sex workers depending on the financial institution. He said that the problem of distress will continue in the future.



in Web Service,   Posted by log1p_kr