Bella Thorne, OnlyFans and the battle

over monetising content

By Mary-Ann RussonBusiness reporter, BBC News
• 1 September 2020
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Image copyrightIRINAImage captionIrina from Belarus is really upset that she will lose $2,000 of her
monthly income due to OnlyFans' price cap changes

Actress Bella Thorne has been embroiled in a controversy over selling $200 (£149.70) nude
photos on OnlyFans that were not as described.

Her actions on the subscription content platform resulted in OnlyFans placing a cap on the prices
creators can charge.

The former Disney actress issued an apology to content creators, who say their incomes will be
impacted.

However OnlyFans told the BBC pricing changes had "been in the pipeline for a while".

OnlyFans has become popular as a platform where content creators can post premium provocative and
intimate photos, videos and text messages. OnlyFans takes a 20% commission on each transaction.
▪ OnlyFans: 'I started selling sexy photos online after losing my job'
▪ Coronavirus: Sex workers fear for their future
The platform has 60 million users and 750,000 content creators globally, according to most recent data.

While some content creators are sex workers, many others are models, dancers, singers, musicians and
comedians who do not produce any content featuring nudity.
Warning: Story contains adult themes

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionFormer Disney actress Bella Thorne courted controversy
by joining OnlyFans and selling $200 photos that turned out not to be nude

Over the weekend, OnlyFans saw a backlash from its content creators after changing the limit on each
tip and paid post from $200 to $100 per item. Previously, content creators could charge any amount
they liked.

"Spending limits are in place to protect all OnlyFans users and to allow them to use the platform safely,"
said an OnlyFans spokeswoman. "The newly introduced limits on tips and paid posts is a change that has
been in the pipeline for a while, and has not been implemented in response to any one creator or fan."

The platform added that it made changes to its policies "with the safety and support" of its users and
content creators in mind.

'She has no right to speak for us'

Ms Thorne, 22, broke records on OnlyFans when she signed up for an account last week, gaining over
50,000 followers and earning $2m within a week by charging $200 for supposedly nude photos.

But she was not nude in the photos, and thousands of her subscribers demanded refunds from the
platform.
Ms Thorne apologised to content creators on Saturday 29 August, claiming in a series of tweets that she
wanted to "remove the stigma behind sex work".

Image copyrightSTEPHANIE MICHELLEImage captionOnlyFans content creator Stephanie Michelle in

Los Angeles solely relies on her income from the platform to support her family
She also told Los Angeles Times that she was researching a new role for a film being made by director
Sean Baker, but he has denied being involved in any projects with the actress.

Ms Thorne further angered content creators by saying she was meeting with OnlyFans to discuss the
price caps on their behalf, when many say their own requests for clarification on the issue have been
ignored by the platform.

"Bella Thorne has no right to speak for us and could never know the daily challenges we face every day,"
Stephanie Michelle, a professional cosplayer based in Los Angeles told the BBC.

Ms Michelle has 550 fans and makes $8,000 a month, charging a $30 subscription fee to users. She also
relies on tips ranging from $5-$200 for pay-per-view photos, videos and text messages.

She says her OnlyFans work is the only way she can support her family due to the pandemic, and fears
many other content creators will struggle to make ends meet going forward.
Image copyrightKELLY JEANImage captionProfessional cosplayer and Twitch streamer Kelly Jean uses
OnlyFans to build her brand, but posts no nude content

Kelly Jean, a London-based professional cosplayer and Twitch streamer, has 4,600 followers on
OnlyFans.

She is on many social media platforms and uses OnlyFans as part of maintaining her following, by
offering $10 sets of sexy modelling pictures as digital merchandise to her fans.

"It's going to make people more suspicious of my content, but we can hope Bella Thorne is bringing
more people to the platform and normalising it for others who don't do nude content like me," she said.

OnlyFans says a record number of people applied to become content creators on the platform in the last
week after Ms Thorne joined it.

'OnlyFans is ripping me off'

Irina is a cosplayer and model living in Belarus, with 35,700 followers on OnlyFans. Due to the
pandemic, she depends on the platform for 90% of her income.

She charges up to $40 for lingerie pictures and videos or for content that implies nudity; $165 for
topless photos and $200 for nude images and videos.
Image copyrightIRINAImage captionIrina is considering using other platforms as she doesn't like the
way OnlyFans has treated her

"I feel OnlyFans is ripping me off," she said. "I will lose around $2,000 a month from my income because
I can't take any custom requests now as they are priced higher than usual content. With a maximum tip
of $100 it's hard to explain to people why they need to tip multiple times."

Erika Heidewald, an actress and musician in Los Angeles, has only 317 followers.

She explains that there are many different business models on OnlyFans because people have wildly
varying requests, and the sky's the limit when it comes to creativity.

She could sell a swimsuit photograph for $20, or a picture of her shoes for $100, or someone might pay
her $200 "to text and humiliate them for 20 minutes".

"A lot of the large creators have lower prices because they have so many subscribers to buy those items,
but most small creators rely on a limited number of loyal subscribers. They might only sell a couple
videos a month, but they're worth enough that it's a life-saving amount of money," she told the BBC.

"Lowering the price ceiling limits our money as well as cheapening the value of individually-produced
content."
Image copyrightERIKA HEIDEWALDImage captionErika Heidewald uses OnlyFans to supplement her
income, earning enough to pay $1,200 in rent a month

Another bone of contention is the fact that OnlyFans previously promised creators that if they referred
new influencers, they would be entitled to receive 5% of their income for the foreseeable future.

"I feel slightly used by OnlyFans," said Kaya Corbridge, 23, a sex worker from Lancashire who has made
$1.1m on the platform over the last three years and now owns her own home.

Ms Corbridge offers services ranging from $7-$25 "personalised penis ratings" and text chats charged at
between $3-$300, to custom videos costing $50 a minute and even a $1,000 package where a user can
control what she does for a day. She has 1.2 million followers on Only Fans.

"When I started, I signed up over 500 content creators and trained them up, offered them support,
promotion and even a guide book that I created on the promise and contract that I would get 5% of their
earnings for life," she says. "So many of us have spent years training up our future competition."

Ms Corbridge estimates she will lose $12,000 a month due to the referral fees policy change. She and
Irina are now considering moving to other platforms.

According to digital content marketing expert Simon Penson, many technology platforms have built
their success by attracting influencers with lucrative monetisation offers, and then "moved the goal
posts" later on.
Image copyrightKAYA CORBRIDGEImage captionKaya Corbridge, from Lancashire, feels she has helped
build the platform and train her competition, but she will soon lose $12,000 a month

"Facebook did this, and we always saw it with influencers on YouTube too," said Mr Penson, who
founded Zazzle Media, one of the pioneers of the digital content marketing industry in 2009.

"The biggest guys had enough reach to negotiate with the social media platforms for bespoke deals.

"But the small and medium-sized influencers who were obviously making quite a lot of money were the
ones who didn't have a place at the negotiating table and they were the ones who were really hurt by
YouTube's changes."

Content creators can't yet turn their backs on online platforms as they need to reach audiences, but Mr
Penson says things are changing.

"We're starting to see an era whereby influencers, rather than relying on social media platforms for
monetisation, they'll move towards technology platforms like Patreon, OnlyFans and VuePay, which
provide the technology rather than the audience.

"Influencers do have greater power than they used to have - they can utilise their influence to push their
fans to the places they want to be."