Have you heard of OnlyFans – the subscription-only social network that allows anyone to make money by selling their own homemade porn?
Founded in London in 2016, OnlyFans has disrupted the online porn world by allowing would-be performers to act as their own producers and sell their content directly. The platform has even been used by celebrities: in 2018, Love Islander Megan Barton-Hanson used it to sell her nude photos.
This week OnlyFans made waves when rumours emerged on social media of a huge data leak. It was soon confirmed that 1.6 terabytes (that’s 1,600 gigabytes) of users’ videos were being circulated illegally online.
OnlyFans moved quickly to assure the world that its servers hadn’t been breached and that no personal data – i.e. names or bank details – had been released.
But the data-dump does appear to be genuine and contains content from hundreds of different performers. It is understood that the videos were downloaded legally by paying users and then amassed into a giant library.
In many ways this is nothing new: internet users have been circulating pirated pornography since the advent of file-sharing itself.
But the problem for OnlyFans goes beyond copyright infringement and to the heart of its entire business strategy.
OnlyFans markets itself under the banner that ‘anyone can earn’ – whether you’re an established porn performer, a broke law student looking for a way to pay your rent, or a work-at-home mum. Many of its performers use the platform as a side gig, often balancing it with perfectly vanilla jobs.
Riley, 33, is a Londoner who uses OnlyFans – and other sex work sites – to sell fetish content. Although she doesn’t believe she was affected directly by the leak, she says it’s a huge source of concern – particularly since she keeps her adult work private from most of her friends and family.
‘The lack of respect for performers’ privacy – and the risk that puts on me and my family – is really concerning’, she says.
Like other performers we spoke to, she’s had no communication from OnlyFans about the leak and has instead had to read up about it online.
‘Companies respond to these data leaks with nonchalance, totally missing the fact that these performers could be subject to online harassment and also things like stalking,’ she says. She added that she was considering leaving the platform altogether.
Another OnlyFans user, Rachel, 28, stressed that the platform’s commitment to privacy was the bigger selling point.
‘OnlyFans makes clear that your content can only be seen by paying subscribers,’ she says. ‘Because of that, it’s the only platform where I’ve been happy to show my face.’
For experienced porn performers, it’s a familiar story.
‘People always want free shit, Sahara Knite, 34, a performer and chair of the UK Adult Producers trade association. She says she can spend days searching for her stolen content and reporting it.
What will happen to the leaked content? Privacy lawyer Myles Jackman (no relation), who advises regularly on matters affecting internet pornography, predicts the videos will soon find themselves on the numerous ‘Tube’ websites – like YouPorn – which rely on user-uploaded content.
The leak is very unlikely, he says, to be covered by revenge porn legislation. Performers could take copyright action against anyone posting the videos – but would likely find that the content was popping up elsewhere as quickly as it was taken down.
‘It’s out there online whether the original creators want that or not,’ he says.
Is there anything that platforms like OnlyFans can do to prevent these leaks in the first place?
Although OnlyFans doesn’t allow users the option to download the videos, this can be circumvented by anyone with adequate tech knowledge. Unlike Snapchat, it doesn’t disable screenshots..
They also need to contend with the possibility that the data-dump was part of an organised attempt to undermine the site’s model, or even maliciously violate users’ privacy.
On Twitter, an account called OnlyFansLeaks has been active since June 2018. Its bio reads: ‘Have an only fans account you want leaked? Let us know & with enough request we will leak it!’ The account has nearly 6,000 followers and regularly posts pirated content from the site.
Likewise, details of the leak were circulated enthusiastically on various sub-forums of Reddit, the internet forum frequented by a 300 million strong base of largely male millennials, where the story was quickly turned into memes and in-jokes. ‘Hoes mad when 1.6TB of OnlyFans content is leaked,’ reads one popular post.
Online sex workers have previously been the target of organised trolling campaigns on 4chan – the notorious internet forum associated with alt-right shitposting. In November 2018, 4chan users began an online campaign to report US-based sex work accounts to the Inland Revenue Service.
But whether it’s the work of trolls or just horny cheapskates, this leak goes to the heart of a serious problem with the DIY porn model.
‘There is always an inherent risk when you are creating content that you expect people to pay for,’ says Myles.
And for OnlyFans performers, that risk just got more real.
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