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The OnlyFans Files reveals the grim underbelly of the £5bn a year site – experts tell us about the risks run by those who rely on the adult content site for income
If you have read anything about OnlyFans, you have probably heard about what they call the 0.1%.
That’s the few thousand “creators” reportedly making $100,000 (£80,000) a month or more on the social media platform from their explicit content. But those earning telephone number salaries are few and far between. What about the 90%, more than four million people who have creator accounts but make a few hundred pounds a month, if they are lucky? The police reports I have obtained under Freedom of Information rules paint a sad and depressing picture of life for some of them.
My investigation published today is about the most serious crimes which have allegedly taken place where victims were linked to the site. They include those reported by women who say they are being forced into performing on OnlyFans by coercive or violent partners who control their earnings. There are allegations of rape, violence, sexual abuse and child sexual abuse imagery. Many of the women who went to police were clearly in abusive relationships. The decision to join OnlyFans, whether it was theirs or their partners, out of choice or under pressure, seemed to have poured petrol over that abuse.
An OnlyFans model from Devon and Cornwall claimed her ex-partner, who appears to be under a restraining order, “stole” photos from her account and shared them with her family and friends. She says he threatened her, turned up at her house “in breach of his conditions not to contact her by any means”, throwing stones at her window to wake her up. She “pressed her panic alarm and called 999”. We don’t know the truth of these allegations or dozens of similar ones I found. Would the alleged abuser have behaved differently if the alleged victim had not been on OnlyFans? Possibly not. But it doesn’t seem to have helped the situation.
In West Yorkshire, a woman claimed that she and her ex “previously had an agreement to share photos for money but since separating he has continued without her consent” and “shared sexual photographs of her on OnlyFans without her permission”. A suspect has been arrested on suspicion of “violence against the person” and charged. Many of the women on the site try hard to keep their identity secret. They hide their faces, wear wigs, disguise their backgrounds and often choose to block their content from appearing to users in their home country.
But there are numerous claims I found of mothers, fathers, grandparents, siblings being sent what must have been deeply distressing pornographic photos and videos of their daughters, granddaughters and sisters. A woman in South Wales told police how her ex, who allegedly made threats to harm her to her family, also uploaded an image of her having sex to OnlyFans and forwarded it to her mother, brother and sister. A company spokesperson says: “OnlyFans works closely with law enforcement agencies around the world. Unlike other platforms, OnlyFans knows the legal identity of all its users so is uniquely placed to support investigations. This approach means OnlyFans is an extremely hostile environment for anyone seeking to abuse our platform.”
In every case I found, it is easy to forget that OnlyFans is getting a 20% cut of any sales or subscriptions on the site. According to company accounts, the average OnlyFans creator grossed just £25 a week on the site last year. Fenix International, the parent company, gets £5 of that. Nearly £2 of which ends up in the bank account of the reclusive owner, Leonid Radvinsky, in Florida. He rarely speaks,and instead the job of defending the platform is left to women like OnlyFans CEO Keily Blair and her predecessor Amrapali Gan.
Keily Blair said in a TEDx talk in 2023: “We moderate all of the content on our platform. Every text, every message, every audio clip, every livestream, everything gets moderated. We see everything. We’re doing it to keep our community safe.” But I spoke to academics from the Centre for Child Abuse and Trauma Studies at Middlesex University. Professor Elena Martellozzo told me: “Platforms like OnlyFans can create an environment for exploitation. We hear success stories of creators earning thousands of pounds but the reality is far more complex. Not everyone achieves financial success, yet many individuals—often in vulnerable situations—are drawn to the platform in the hope of making a sustainable income.
“For those facing financial hardship, the promise of easy earnings can be a dangerous illusion, leading them to take greater risks. Many creators, desperate to attract or retain subscribers, may feel pressured to push their boundaries, escalate their content, or comply with demands they might otherwise reject. This can create a system where financial need can quickly turn into exploitation.”
Ten years ago, a video went viral showing an 18-year-old woman apparently “tricked” into performing a sex act in a Magaluf nightclub on 24 men. Instead of winning a free holiday, she ended up with a £4 cocktail of the same name. The public were horrified but the young woman – known as “Magaluf girl” – remained anonymous. Now porn stars like Lily Phillips and Bonnie Blue vie to outdo each other, having sex with 100 or 1000 men in one session, while apparently making their fortunes on OnlyFans. Bonnie Blue’s stunt went so far it was banned from the site.
Elena Martellozzo said: “I haven’t come across a single positive comment about her [Bonnie Blue], but she’s famous now—which seems to have been her goal. This feeds into the “more is better” mentality that platforms like OnlyFans encourage. The highly competitive nature of the platform creates a cycle of escalation, where creators may feel under increasing pressure to produce more explicit content to keep up with subscriber demands. This relentless pressure erodes personal agency, reinforcing the harmful myth that one must always be available to whoever demands more.”
Her colleague Paula Bradbury added: “I would be interested to hear how content creators such as Bonnie Blue view their experiences in a few years. While they are making tens and hundreds of thousands of pounds out of it at the moment, their perceptions of their experiences may change over time.”
For confidential support, call the 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Freephone Helpline on 0808 2000 247 or visit womensaid.co.uk. If you or your family have lost a friend or family member through fatal domestic abuse, AAFDA (Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse) can offer specialist and expert support and advocacy. For more info visit www.aafda.org.uk.
