OnlyFans Sued For Ordering Social Media To Block Content From Competitors

OnlyFans, face lawsuits for blocking competitors on Facebook. (photo: doc. OnlyFans)

JAKARTA - OnlyFans are accused in a pair of lawsuits alleging sabotaging the Facebook accounts of adult creators working for rival services by placing their content in terrorism databases.

FanCentro, which offers a platform similar to OnlyFans, is behind one of the lawsuits, while the other is a class-action lawsuit made on behalf of three adult creators. Both Facebook and OnlyFans were named as defendants in the latest complaint.

The lawsuit alleges that OnlyFans instructed Facebook to flag content from adult creators promoting rival platforms, so that it would be added to the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) database.

The GIFCT List was established by Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and YouTube with the aim of preventing terrorists and violent extremists from exploiting digital platforms.

Cited from Engadget, Friday, February 25, FanCentro said this resulted in some content creators seeing their social media accounts, especially those from Instagram, closed or blocked. Because this account has links to and promotes FanCentro, traffic to the site is decreasing.

The company also claims any content creators who promote their OnlyFans profile are not targeted. In addition, it is alleged that one or more employees of Facebook may have been bribed to facilitate the scheme by representatives of OnlyFans.

In response to this, OnlyFans told BBC International that the legal claims were unfounded, and Facebook's parent company Meta made the same statement.

"These allegations are baseless and we will deal with them in the context of litigation as needed," said Meta.

FanCentro plans to call more companies, including other social media companies, for more accurate evidence.

OnlyFans is notorious for being a pornographic platform, but back in August last year, the company said it would ban sexually explicit behavior at the request of its banking partners and payment providers, but then dropped it after receiving the necessary secure guarantees to support its adult creators.

However, the move shook the confidence of some sex workers and other OnlyFans creators, as the potential ban threatened their main source of income. Some may have decided to move to a rival site, which is now facing a ban on social media.