OnlyFans Founder Says That Banks Are To Blame For The Restriction Of Sexually Explicit Videos

According to Complex, OnlyFans founder Tim Stokely claims that banks are to blame for the content subscription service’s imminent restriction on sexually explicit videos.

Stokely discussed the decision to stop enabling users in an interview with Financial Times, particularly those who provide subscriptions, to share sexually explicit content starting this fall. However, he did say that if the environment changes, he will welcome the content back on the site.

“The short answer is banks,” he said, adding that banks continued to place more roadblocks in the company’s way, citing reputational risk and refusing to do business with it.

“We pay over 1 million creators over $300M every month, and making sure that these funds get to creators involves using the banking sector,”  Stokely said, citing the Bank of New York Mellon as an example of a bank that has “flagged and rejected” all wires related to the company. According to him, JP Morgan Chase is “particularly active in closing sex worker accounts,” while Metro Bank terminated its OnlyFans business account in 2019.

“This decision was made to safeguard their funds and subscriptions from increasingly unfair actions by banks and media companies—we obviously do not want to lose our most loyal creators,” Stokely said.

The creator revealed that the decision has not been implemented to simplify investor findings and that MasterCard has no responsibility for the move since its harsher regulations for “professional merchants” are already “fully compliant” with OF.