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OnlyFans will block porn to please payment providers

Stripe, which prohibits adult content and nudity, is among the companies OnlyFans uses for payments.

A smartphone on a gray bedsheet

OnlyFans said it needed to make the change to appease banking and payments providers.

Photo: Charles Deluvio/Unsplash

OnlyFans, the content-subscription service known for often-racy material, will not allow users to post sexually explicit material starting in October, a Bloomberg report said.

The company will prohibit users from posting material showing sexually explicit conduct, starting in October. However, creators will still be able to post nude photos and videos that are consistent with the site's "acceptable use," according to Bloomberg.

The announcement comes amid speculation that Stripe, one of the payment services used by OnlyFans, could crack down on the site. Some content published on OnlyFans violates the fintech company's own policies on "restricted businesses." Stripe's policies include a prohibition on nudity, however, so it wasn't immediately clear if OnlyFans' moves go far enough.

OnlyFans' terms of service mention other payment providers, and in April 2020, the company announced it was adding Securion Pay as a payment partner.

Axios also reported that OnlyFans was struggling to find investors despite its strong financial performance. Some venture capitalists' agreements with limited partners in their funds prohibit investing in certain types of businesses, including adult content.

Benjamin Pimentel

Benjamin Pimentel ( @benpimentel) covers crypto and fintech from San Francisco. He has reported on many of the biggest tech stories over the past 20 years for the San Francisco Chronicle, Dow Jones MarketWatch and Business Insider, from the dot-com crash, the rise of cloud computing, social networking and AI to the impact of the Great Recession and the COVID crisis on Silicon Valley and beyond. He can be reached at bpimentel@protocol.com or via Google Voice at (925) 307-9342.

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