What is OnlyFans, and Why is it So Popular?
OnlyFans is a subscription-based platform based in London, United Kingdom. The platform lets content creators, often adult performers, artists, and influencers share their exclusive content with the world — such as videos or photos. People join the platform and access this content by subscribing to these content creators. The platform gained popularity due to the abundant explicit content available on it. It is another reason why most of the OnlyFans users are men. As a study suggests, around 87% of OnlyFans users are men and about 70% of the content creators are women.
To access this content, the creators charge a fee which could range from a few dollars to a higher amount that the creator selects according to their own preferences. The platform takes a small percentage of these earnings and pays out the rest to the creators. In most cases, the creators keep the majority of their earnings.
OnlyFans Security: A Brief Look
In 2021, an ex-OnlyFans employee broke a concerning news regarding the platform’s data security breach. He said a few former employees could still access OnlyFans users’ and models’ private information via Zendesk. Zendesk is a software solution that OnlyFans uses to handle its creators’ and users’ inquiries. All the information that OnlyFans mandates every newcomer to provide was accessible to those ex-employees. This private information entailed users’ credit card details, passports, driver’s licenses, addresses, full names, KYC selfies, bank statements, etc.
The leak took the internet by storm and confused various OnlyFans users regarding its security, prompting legitimate questions about its overall security measures.
How Does OnlyFans Operate?
If you want to know the level of protection that OnlyFans provides to its community, you must understand its operation model first. When you think of OnlyFans, the first thing that comes to mind is that it’s a platform that presents adult content. But that’s not 100% true. Like other social media platforms, OnlyFans enables users to share their content, like videos, pictures, and comments on various topics like music, art, fitness, etc. Users who share their content on the platform are known as creators.
The platform allows users to directly subscribe and interact with their desired content creators by paying a monthly or yearly fee. Each content creator can set a fee for their public content. For private sessions (pay-per-view videos), which could involve greetings or personal advice, a creator can charge a minimum fee of $5.
Is OnlyFans a Safe Platform to Use?
OnlyFans is as safe as any other social media platform. But as with others, joining it may also involve risks due to its subscription-based operation model. This is because it collects lots of personal data. As long as you are okay with these risks and adopt the necessary measures to stay safe, then you should be good to join it.
First, let’s get into the details of how OnlyFans operates safely. We have gone through the OnlyFans’ Safety & Transparency Center, and the following are our findings:
- Age & identity check: To join the platform, users must submit their government ID, current selfie, and residential address. OnlyFans mandates that a user must be at least 18 years old to join. Besides these basic details, the platform requires users to provide other personal information and documents, such as a valid ID and bank card, and regularly validate such information.
- Data safekeeping measures: The platform protects user data through encryption and backups. Besides, the platform does not provide further details about the encryption type or protective measures.
- Handling copyright violations or illegal content: OnlyFans enables users to report and delete content they perceive as violating their copyright agreements or illegal. Creators can request deletion of such content through the DMCA takedown process.
- Independent auditing: The platform works with an independent auditing agency called “Monitor.” Monitor regularly overwatch its procedures, policies, and employees to ensure everything follows the law.
- Preventing financial scams: To keep its creators from falling into financial scams, OnlyFans vigilantly monitors their payment process and looks for any sign of fraud or money laundering. These signs could be anything from fast purchases, multiple payment card usage with different names, or the same IP address used by creators and fans.
Is OnlyFans Private? Overview of its Privacy Policy
OnlyFans requires various personal information from subscribers and creators during the signup. From a security point of view, its data collection method looks similar to other renowned social media forums. Yet, when you decide to unsubscribe from the platform, it can legally retain your data for a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 7 years for particular details as mandated by its rules and policy.
Which Type of Data Does OnlyFans Collect?
According to the OnlyFans privacy policy, users, whether they are creators or fans, must submit the following details while joining. Even so, the platform requires much more information from creators than subscribers, which we’ll detail below:
Data that a Creator Must Provide:
- Full Name
- Alias (if there is)
- Residential Details
- Country
- Email ID
- Phone Number
- Government ID Card
- “Selfie” with ID
- SM Handles
- Signatures on Release Forms
- User Name
- Password
- Headers & Avatars
- Subscription Plans, Subscribers Details, Referrals
- Posts Info
- Comments
- Chat Information
- Customer Queries
- Payment Card Information
- Billing Address
- Wallet Funds
- Bank Account Detail
- Pay-out Country
- Business or Corporate Info
- Social Security Number, W-9 Form, 1099-MISC Form, 1099-NEC Form (For US Creators)
- Earnings
- Pay-out Requests
- Payments
- Unsuccessful Payments
- IP Address
- Internet Service Providers
- Device Information
- Browser Detail
- Usage Data (History, Cookies, etc)
Data that a Subscriber Must Provide:
- Email Id
- Phone Number
- User Name
- Password
- Headers & Avatars
- Subscription Plan
- Comments
- Chat Communication
- Customer Queries
- Payment Details
- Billing Address
- Wallet Funds
- Unsuccessful Payments
- IP Address
- Internet Service Provider
- Device Information
- Browser Details
- Usage Data (Cookies, history, etc)
Does OnlyFans Share its Clients’ Information with Third Parties?
Yes, OnlyFans shares its clientele’s data with the following types of third parties:
- Third-party service providers for payment processing, IT, customer support, and more.
- Professional advisers such as accountants and legal advisors.
- Suitable third parties in potential merger, sale, or restructuring scenarios.
- Companies for business cooperation.
- Relevant authorities, organizations, and regulators, when asked legally.
Can You Stay Anonymous on OnlyFans?
As discussed earlier, an OnlyFans user, whether a creator or fan, must provide their relevant identity proof and payment details for verification purposes. Hence, nobody can stay anonymous on the OnlyFans, at least to the platform’s authorities. That being said, subscribers and creators can hide their real identity by providing a fake name or email address.
Furthermore, although the interaction between creators and fans remains confidential, the platform doesn’t provide complete anonymity to its consumers.
Having discussed the platform’s safety and security measures, let’s now look at the other side of the coin — the dangers an OnlyFans creator or subscriber can get into individually. We’ll also discuss ways that you can adopt to remain protected.
Is OnlyFans Safe for Children?
No. the platform is not for kids or teenagers. Although OnlyFans doesn’t verify age when subscribers fill out their signup form, its Term of Service clearly states that users below 18 should not be on the website. There are various reasons behind this prohibition, such as the availability of adult content, NSFW materials, and the presence of inappropriate, suggestive photos or videos.
When talking about Creators, OnlyFans strictly mandates them to be over 18 years of age. The platform doesn’t even allow videos or pictures featuring kids. Thus, OnlyFans is unsafe for kids, like other social media platforms on the internet.
Dangers that OnlyFans Creators Can Face
OnlyFans creators can fall into various kinds of dangerous situations, including:
- Account hacks: As with various other social media forums over the web, OnlyFans isn’t 100% safe from cybercriminals. Hackers entering a creator’s account could put their personal information, earnings, and content at risk. Over time, many creators have reported their accounts getting hacked and their associated emails changing.
- Copyright violations and content creach: Content from OnlyFans could be available on various online platforms. It usually happens when subscribers record their creators’ live content and share it elsewhere without proprietary rights. Hackers can publicly expose a significant amount of stolen adult content in such data breach events.
- Privacy concerns and online harassment: Online harassment and stalking are among the few most common challenges a creator with a large fan base faces over the web. Some creators reported their experiences of fanatic fan moments, like spying or even crossing international borders.
How OnlyFans Protect its Creators’ Content?
To provide a safe environment for its creators, OnlyFans employs various necessary steps. It facilitates creators with 2-factor authentication and tools required to control their community, like turning off comments, limiting direct messages, or putting profiles in private mode. Below are a few of the necessary steps that OnlyFans takes to protect creators’ content on the platform:
- Facilitates a free-of-cost watermarking service to its creators
- Watermarks are kinds of text a creator can put on their content to prevent them from unauthorized use.
- Enables creators to report copyright violations under DMCA. Creators residing outside the US also have content protection according to their relevant international copyright laws and regulations.
- The platform regularly searches the internet and reports websites hosting stolen content from its creators.
Dangers that OnlyFans Subscribers Can Face
When talking about fans, a few common concerns that OnlyFans can create are:
- Data breach: Leaking of their critical information like their real names, email IDs, or card numbers.
- Hacking: OnlyFans stores payment details from subscribers’ accounts, making them vulnerable to hacking via phishing or other kinds of attacks.
- Phishing attacks: Usually, hackers use fake mirrored websites resembling OnlyFans to lure users into revealing their credentials.
- Scams: Scammers act as genuine OnlyFans creators and use stolen pictures to trick subscribers.
When you plan to subscribe to a particular creator, be vigilant about him at first. We’d recommend you subscribe for a month first to see if you are following the right personality rather than subscribing for the whole year.
To protect yourself from potential data leaks and hacking, we recommend using a reputable VPN like ExtremeVPN. ExtremeVPN facilitates you with the following set of features.
- Restrict malicious websites, ads, and trackers with its WireGaurd feature.
- Encrypts all of your data traffic using AES-256-bit encryption.
- It provides online anonymity by masking your IP address and relocating your virtual location.
Subscribe to ExtremeVPN’s risk-free first 30-day money-back guarantee plan and test its features to see if it match your security and privacy expectations.
How to Remain Anonymous on OnlyFans?
Although remaining completely anonymous online is like a child’s dream, you can still take the following measures to enhance your protection. Here’s how:
- Use a fake name: Set up a username that doesn’t match your real one.
- Don’t share personal information: While online, avoid sharing your personal information, like your real name, address, or other information that could lead them to you outside the digital world.
- Use stronger passcodes: Use passwords with complex names and number combinations, and it must be difficult to guess from those on any other platform. Try ExtremeVPN’s password generator tool to create a strong password for your social accounts.
- Set up 2FA:
- Visit the OnlyFans settings page.
- Select Account > Two-Step Verification.
- Enable 2FA by connecting through SMS or your authenticator app.
- Subscribe to a VPN: ExtremeVPN allows you to spoof your location and device’s IP address while encrypting your internet traffic with top-tier 256-bit encryption protocols.
- Secure your payment method: Always use secure payment methods and prepaid cards to separate your financial details from your profile.
- Limit unnecessary interactions: You must always remember the information you share while chatting or commenting with someone on the platform.
FAQs
