The London-based adult subscriber service OnlyFans has confirmed to The Daily Beast that it is removing accounts of content creators in both Russia and Belarus.
OnlyFans star @kitty, 21, told The Daily Beast she was dismayed that her payouts seemingly evaporated when her profile disappeared overnight. She says she has no income except for what she makes through OnlyFans. “Right now I don’t have any funds to buy food or pay my rent,” she said via a text message exchange. “I have taken part in several protests since I moved to Moscow when I was 18. We are not Putin! All my prayers for peace and the Ukraine people.”
When the profiles disappeared, it was unclear if the apparent changes were a political move or if new sanctions imposed on Russia in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine have made it impossible for the women to be paid via the site. In a statement to The Daily Beast, OnlyFans said that they understood the plight of their Russian content makers, but that the company “complies with all applicable laws and regulations.”
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While admitting current payments have been limited, they assure the content creators that “any available balances will remain secure and pending until such time that they may be withdrawn again.” When that happens, of course, will be largely up to Vladimir Putin and the international community’s willingness to bring Russia’s financial sector back online.
The statement went on to acknowledge that Putin’s unfounded war was not the fault of OnlyFans creators. “While creators are not responsible for the recent attacks on Ukraine, due to worldwide financial restrictions we have very limited methods to pay Creator accounts linked to Russia and Belarus. As a result payments have been limited.” The company went on to say until Russian sanctions are lifted, “new subscriptions will not be accepted and current subscriptions will not renew once they have expired.”
That won’t be good news to the many Russian content creators who have come to rely on the subscriber service as primary income. A cosplay content creator who goes by the handle kanra_cosplay, posted a shot of a message appearing to show that OnlyFans cancelled her account. “Woke up and got this message from @onlyfans @OnlyFansSupport they decided to delete my account without any warnings!” she wrote. “I had money there and without them I will not be able to live. Why they do this to ordinary people?! You decided to ruin our lives??!”
Another, who tweets under the handle @_Black_way_ said she and other adult stars were “hostages,” writing, “I don’t support this war, but I became its hostage, like other creators from Russia. Models, cosplayers, artists, youtubers and others. We all found ourselves blocked on our platforms or cannot receive income from them just because we are russian.” She later added, “I’m from Russia. And I’m an artist, not a military man with weapons. I want to continue doing my art and make people around me happy, not fight.”
Several other content providers based in Belarus and Russia tweeted similar complaints. One person who performs under the handle Shirogane-sama tweeted that she was actually protesting against her government. “While I’m attending protests and doing my best to help my Ukrainian friends, @onlyfans without any warning just deprives me of all my income I earned to live in a country with a government that I haven’t chosen,” she tweeted. “On the basis of what are you embezzling my fan’s money?” she later tweeted. “If you are breaching your own duties and rules and doing this to me, are other models safe?”
After the United Kingdom agreed to block Russia from the SWIFT network, it has become difficult to process payments to anyone living in Russia. While Belarus is not yet blocked from SWIFT, many of those affected are fiscally registered in Russia.
The apparent ban also affected stars from Belarus, including a cosplay star who goes by the name of Evenink_cosplay, who wrote:
“Thank you Onlyfans for banning me, a girl from Belarus, from your platform. Now I lost my job, can’t buy food and pay rent 🤡✌️.
“Meanwhile people who really participate in war have no problems, but models and cosplayers can’t work and get income. Thanks for this ‘real actions.’”
Editor’s Note: OnlyFans confirmed to The Daily Beast that all Russian-based accounts were reinstated on Monday morning. “After experiencing financial restrictions we have been able to restore account activity for creators in all countries. Their accounts will have full functionalities as long as we continue to have payment methods to support them.” Several content providers also confirmed to The Daily Beast that their accounts were back online.
