WEBVTT

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Welcome back. Today, we are doing something a

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little different. We are looking at a platform

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that, frankly, everyone has heard of, but very

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few people actually understand the mechanics

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of. We are talking about a company that has fundamentally

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changed the Internet, you know, for better or

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for worse. And to set the scene, I want you to

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just look at the calendar. It is February 2,

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2026. The platform we are discussing today is

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massive. It's it's monolithic. It really is.

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But the scale of it is what really blew my mind

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when I started digging into this stack of research

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you brought today. It is staggering. And I think

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before we even say the name of the company, though,

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everyone knows who we are talking about. We need

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to look at a number that dropped in October 2025.

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Oh, yeah. It's a financial milestone that really

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contextualizes everything we are about to discuss.

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Yeah, this is the jaw dropper for me. In October

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2025, this company announced that since its inception

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in 2016, it has paid out $25 billion to its creators.

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$25 billion. $25 billion. That is with a B. To

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put that in perspective, that is comparable to

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the GDP of entire small nations. Wow. It is a

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transfer of wealth that is almost unprecedented

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in the, quote, creator economy. But as we are

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going to explore, that wealth isn't exactly evenly

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distributed. Right. We're talking about OnlyFans.

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And the hook for me here, the reason I wanted

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to do this deep dive, is that we need to move

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past the headline that it's just a porn site.

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I mean, obviously, that is a huge part of it.

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But this is a story about a massive shift in

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how we value online interaction. It is a story

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about the top 1 % making millions while the average

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creator is scraping by with peanuts. Exactly.

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If you look at the data, the average creator

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makes about, what, $1 ,300 a year? A year. Not

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a month. A year. So for every superstar buying

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a Ferrari, there are thousands of people making

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essentially pocket change. Yeah. But our mission

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today is to unpack the machine itself. We need

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to investigate OnlyFans as a technology company,

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a financial juggernaut, and a lightening rod

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for controversy. And we have quite the stack

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of sources to help us do that. We've got financial

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reports, investigative journalism from Reuters

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and the BBC, corporate histories, and even some

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court documents. Yep. We are going to figure

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out. How a family founded startup in London became

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an $8 billion valuation target as of 2025. And

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how it survived a near -death experience with

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the global banking system, which we will definitely

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get to. It is a London -based tech giant that

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has redefined intimacy in the digital age. But

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to understand where we are in 2026, we have to

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go back to the very beginning. Let's rewind the

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clock. Take us back to 2016, because when I look

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at the origins of OnlyFans, it doesn't look like

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your typical Silicon Valley garage startup story.

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It's distinctly British and distinctly family

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oriented, which is ironic given what the platform

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became. It is a bit ironic, yeah. The company

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was founded in London by a guy named Tim Stokely,

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and the seed money wasn't from a venture capital

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firm on Sand Hill Road. Right. No Sequoia Capital

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here. No. It was a 10 ,000 pound loan from his

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father, Guy Stokely. I love that. The dad bankrolled

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it. But Tim wasn't exactly new to this world,

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was he? He had been tinkering in this space before.

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He had. Tim Stokely had a history of trying to

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crack the code on monetizing social influence

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and, frankly, adult content. He had founded sites

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like Glam Girls and Customs4U. Customs4U. What

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was that? Customs4U was interesting because it

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was an early attempt at allowing users to request

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custom videos for models. So, you know, the DNA

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of direct monetization was already there. So

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he was already thinking about that direct fan

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-to -creator payment model. He was, and it really

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was a family affair. You had Tim running the

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show, his brother Thomas was the chief operating

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officer, and his dad, Guy, was running the finances.

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Imagine that Thanksgiving dinner table conversation.

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So, son, how's the site going? Well, initially,

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the conversation might have been quite tame.

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This is a detail a lot of people forget. When

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OnlyFans first launched, strictly speaking, it

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wasn't a porn site. Right. They actually banned

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it. They did. They actually banned explicit content

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in the very early days. The original pitch was

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to attract mainstream influencers, fitness trainers,

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chefs, musicians who wanted to share exclusive

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content with superfans. That is the classic pivot,

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isn't it? They wanted to be Patreon before Patreon

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was huge. Pretty much. But then they flipped

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the switch. By 2017, the ban on pornography was

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lifted. Why do you think that happened? Was it

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just pure economics? It's almost always economics.

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They realized the friction in the market. People

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wanted to see adult content and creators wanted

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to sell it. But the existing platforms were clunky

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or, you know, pirated everything. We were just

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leaving money on the table. A ton of it. Only

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fans offered a walled warden. But the real turning

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point, the moment the rocket ship actually ignited,

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was in 2018. Okay, this is the ownership shift,

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right? Yeah. Because up until 2018, it's this

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British family business. Yep. Then enters a new

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character. Enter Leonid Rudvinsky. He is a Ukrainian

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-American businessman, a first -generation immigrant

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with a deep history in the adult industry. He

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owned a site called MyFreeCams, which is a huge

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cam girl site. So he knew the space. A very big

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player. A very big player. In 2018, he acquired

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75 % of Fenix International, which is the parent

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company of OnlyFans. So the Stokelys are still

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involved, but Rudvinsky is the majority owner.

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And this guy is a bit of a mystery, right? He's

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not out there doing TED Talks. Far from it. He

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is incredibly private, but his influence is undeniable.

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When Radvinsky came on board, that is when OnlyFans

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really leaned into its identity. It found its

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product market fit. It absolutely did. He understood

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the mechanics of the adult industry better than

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anyone. He knew that if you could streamline

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the payment process and give creators control,

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you would win. This is where the platform gained

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what we might call its pop culture reputation.

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Let's talk about that mechanism, the gold rush

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mechanics, as I like to call it, because the

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business model is actually incredibly simple

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on the surface. It is deceptively simple. It

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is an 80 -20 split. The creator keeps 80 % of

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every dollar earned and the platform takes 20%,

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which compared to something like YouTube or Spotify

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is incredibly generous. Oh, it's night and day.

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I mean, Spotify pays fractions of a penny. Here,

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if a fan pays $20 for a subscription, the creator

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sees 16 of that immediately. Exactly. And unlike

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YouTube or Instagram, which are ad -supported,

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meaning the creator is essentially bait to get

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you to watch a commercial. Right. You're the

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product. You're the product. With OnlyFans, it's

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direct monetization. It's a transaction. You

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are paying for a subscription. You are paying

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for tips. Or you are paying for pay -per -view

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messages, which are locked posts sent via DM.

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That pay -per -view or PPV aspect is crucial,

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isn't it? That's where the whales spend their

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money. It is. The subscription gets you in the

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door, but the PPV is where the high margin revenue

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sits. And we should probably talk about who is

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actually spending that money. Do we have any

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data on that? We do. We have demographic data

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from a 2022 study. It found that the user base

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was predominantly white married males. Married

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males. That's an interesting demographic detail.

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It's a very specific demographic. It speaks to

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what the platform is actually selling. It's not

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just content, is it? If you just want to see

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naked people, the internet has terabytes of that

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for free. It's not about the content. It's about

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the connection. Or at least the illusion of connection.

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The girlfriend experience. Right. But specifically,

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a girlfriend who doesn't demand... anything from

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you other than money it's a low stakes emotional

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release it feels transactional it's entirely

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transactional for a married man who you know

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maybe feels ignored or bored only fans offers

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a simulated relationship where he's always the

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most important person in the room as long as

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the credit card clears as long as the credit

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card clears that's incredibly bleak when you

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put it like that it is but it's also an eight

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billion dollar business model okay so they have

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the model they have the new owner they are growing

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and then The world stops. 2020. COVID -19. The

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pandemic was a tragedy for the world, but it

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was, to put it bluntly, a winning lottery ticket

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for OnlyFans. A perfect storm. A perfect storm.

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On one side, you had millions of people stuck

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at home, bored, lonely, and horny. Yep. On the

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other side, you had people losing their jobs.

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Bartenders, waiters, service workers who needed

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income immediately. It was the symbiotic relationship

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of the lockdown. I remember reading that between

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March and April 2020 alone, the user and creator

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base jumped 75 percent. 75 percent in one month.

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It's explosive. That's insane. It is. But it

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wasn't just the pandemic. There was a cultural

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lightning strike in April 2020. Oh, I know what

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you're going to say. Beyonce. Beyonce. The Savage

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remix with Megan Thee Stallion. It's TikTok.

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When I dance on that Demon Time, she might start

00:09:05.139 --> 00:09:08.679
an OnlyFans. I'm impressed. But that lyric? It

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was a game changer. It legitimized it, didn't

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it? It brought it into the mainstream. It absolutely

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did. Traffic spiked 15 % immediately after that

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song dropped. It moved the platform from the

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dark corners of the internet into the mainstream

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conversation. It became a verb. I'm going to

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start an OnlyFans. It became a viable career

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option in the public consciousness, for better

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or worse. But with that mainstreaming came the

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celebrity invasion. And this is where things

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get really messy. We have to talk about Bella

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Thorne. The Bella Thorne incident of August 2020.

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This is a case study in disruption and unintended

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consequences. Okay, so set the scene. Bella Thorne,

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the former Disney actress, joins the site. She

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makes a million dollars in 24 hours. A million

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dollars. And then two million in a week. Which

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sounds like a huge win for OnlyFans, right? Look,

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we're a celebrity. We're legitimate. It looked

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like a win until the chargeback started. See,

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the controversy was that she allegedly promised

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nude photos in a $200 pay -per -view message.

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Okay. Fans paid the $200. She sent a photo, but

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she was wearing lingerie. And the internet turned

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on her. Fast. The fans felt scammed. They demanded

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refunds. The credit card processors panicked

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because suddenly there was this massive volume

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of chargebacks, which is a huge red flag for

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fraud. And the fallout didn't just hurt Bella

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Thorne, right? This is the part that really angered

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the sex worker community that had built the platform.

00:10:35.779 --> 00:10:38.559
Correct. This is the crucial part. To appease

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the payment processors, OnlyFans had to change

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the rules for everyone. For everyone. Everyone.

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They capped the price you could charge for a

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tip. They extended the time it took to get paid

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out from days to weeks. Oh, wow. So you had sex

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workers who were relying on that income to pay

00:10:53.240 --> 00:10:56.039
rent suddenly finding their funds locked up for

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weeks. All because a celebrity came in, made

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a quick buck and broke the system. It created

00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:04.700
this huge rift. You had the tourist celebrities

00:11:04.700 --> 00:11:07.759
versus the workers who built the platform from

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the ground up. A huge rift and a ton of distrust.

00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:13.559
But Bella wasn't the only one putting up crazy

00:11:13.559 --> 00:11:17.659
numbers. No. In April 2021, the rapper Bahad

00:11:17.659 --> 00:11:20.460
Bobby. broke Bella Thorne's record. I remember

00:11:20.460 --> 00:11:23.419
this. She made a million dollars in just six

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hours. Six hours. And this was controversial

00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:27.379
for another reason. She had essentially just

00:11:27.379 --> 00:11:29.720
turned 18. Right. People were literally counting

00:11:29.720 --> 00:11:31.919
down the days to her birthday, which brings up

00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:34.399
a whole other ethical debate. A whole other can

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of worms. And then you have the streamers getting

00:11:36.059 --> 00:11:38.980
in on it. Amaranth. Amaranth is a phenomenon.

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In 2022, she revealed she was earning one and

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a half million dollars per month. Per month.

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That's just it's hard to even comprehend that.

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And Markiplier, the gaming YouTuber, he launched

00:11:50.909 --> 00:11:53.070
an account for charity and literally crashed

00:11:53.070 --> 00:11:55.830
the site. The servers couldn't handle the traffic.

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The financial velocity during this era, 2020

00:11:58.409 --> 00:12:02.379
to 2021, is just. Mind -boggling. It really is.

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By 2021, revenue hit roughly $900 million, up

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from $350 million the year before. That's more

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than double in a year. And remember Radvinsky,

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the owner? The silent owner. He took home $500

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million in dividends just between 2021 and 2022.

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Half a billion dollars. In cash. Straight into

00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:24.840
his pocket. The cash flow this company generates

00:12:24.840 --> 00:12:27.080
is staggering because their overhead is relatively

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low. They don't buy content. They just host it.

00:12:30.120 --> 00:12:32.820
their 20 but when you are generating that much

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cash from adult content you paint a massive target

00:12:36.379 --> 00:12:39.480
on your back a huge one and in august 2021 the

00:12:39.480 --> 00:12:41.559
music stopped or at least it looked like it was

00:12:41.559 --> 00:12:44.059
going to let's talk about the porn bam august

00:12:44.059 --> 00:12:48.419
19th 2021 i remember where i was when this news

00:12:48.419 --> 00:12:51.519
broke it was a bombshell only fans announced

00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:54.240
that starting october 1st they would ban sexually

00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:57.340
explicit content which to me sounded completely

00:12:57.340 --> 00:13:00.779
suicidal It's like Netflix saying, we are banning

00:13:00.779 --> 00:13:02.840
movies. We are just going to do menu screens

00:13:02.840 --> 00:13:04.960
now. Right. Why would they kill their golden

00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:06.840
goose? It wasn't a choice they wanted to make.

00:13:06.919 --> 00:13:09.299
It was banking pressure. OK, let's unpack this,

00:13:09.379 --> 00:13:11.480
because at the time, everyone blamed MasterCard.

00:13:11.559 --> 00:13:14.120
That was the narrative. That was the rumor. And

00:13:14.120 --> 00:13:16.379
MasterCard was making changes to its policies

00:13:16.379 --> 00:13:19.759
for adult merchants. But CEO Tim Stokely later

00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:22.559
came out and clarified. He said MasterCard actually

00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:25.799
had no bearing on the specific decision. So it

00:13:25.799 --> 00:13:27.879
wasn't them. Who was it? It was the bank. Banks

00:13:27.879 --> 00:13:30.659
themselves, the big ones. Institutions like BNY

00:13:30.659 --> 00:13:33.200
Mellon and JPMorgan Chase were rejecting transactions.

00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:36.500
Rejecting them how? Like just refusing to process

00:13:36.500 --> 00:13:39.299
payments. Exactly. BNY Mellon was reportedly

00:13:39.299 --> 00:13:42.240
flagging every single wire transfer from Phoenix

00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:44.860
International. Imagine trying to run a multi

00:13:44.860 --> 00:13:47.159
-billion dollar company when your bank won't

00:13:47.159 --> 00:13:50.399
move your money. So when we say they banks, we

00:13:50.399 --> 00:13:52.460
aren't talking about the local branch manager

00:13:52.460 --> 00:13:54.379
shaking his head. We're talking about the...

00:13:54.679 --> 00:13:57.580
back end plumbing of the global economy. That's

00:13:57.580 --> 00:14:00.240
the perfect way to put it. We need to distinguish

00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:03.179
between the card networks, Visa and MasterCard,

00:14:03.179 --> 00:14:06.899
and the custodian banks like BNY Mellon. What's

00:14:06.899 --> 00:14:09.500
the difference? The card networks set the rules

00:14:09.500 --> 00:14:12.019
for how a payment happens, but the banks actually

00:14:12.019 --> 00:14:15.620
move the money. And for a bank like BNY Mellon,

00:14:15.639 --> 00:14:19.049
which handles trillions in assets. Processing

00:14:19.049 --> 00:14:22.429
a $10 payment for an adult site is a nightmare

00:14:22.429 --> 00:14:26.169
of compliance. Is it just a moral stance? Or

00:14:26.169 --> 00:14:28.049
is there a mechanical reason they hate it? It's

00:14:28.049 --> 00:14:30.289
risk assessment. In the banking world, adult

00:14:30.289 --> 00:14:33.190
content is labeled high risk. Okay. Not just

00:14:33.190 --> 00:14:34.909
because of the nature of the content, but because

00:14:34.909 --> 00:14:38.000
of the chargeback rate. If a user regrets a purchase

00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:40.320
and disputes it, the bank has to investigate.

00:14:40.500 --> 00:14:42.860
That costs money. And with this content, I imagine

00:14:42.860 --> 00:14:45.059
the chargeback rate is higher than average. Much

00:14:45.059 --> 00:14:47.039
higher. If the rate of disputes gets too high,

00:14:47.100 --> 00:14:50.480
usually over 1%, the bank gets fined by the card

00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:53.200
networks. So BNY Mellon looks at Phoenix International

00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:56.580
and sees a compliance headache that might facilitate

00:14:56.580 --> 00:14:59.779
money laundering, generates endless chargebacks.

00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:03.559
And creates PR risk. And they realized the fees

00:15:03.559 --> 00:15:05.500
they were collecting just weren't worth the trouble.

00:15:05.659 --> 00:15:07.740
So they were effectively de -risking. Exactly.

00:15:07.820 --> 00:15:10.360
They didn't ban porn. They banned the compliance

00:15:10.360 --> 00:15:13.799
cost of porn. So they announced the ban. What

00:15:13.799 --> 00:15:17.379
happened next? Chaos. Absolute chaos. The backlash

00:15:17.379 --> 00:15:21.080
was immediate and fierce. Creators felt betrayed.

00:15:21.740 --> 00:15:23.879
I can imagine. They had built their livelihoods

00:15:23.879 --> 00:15:26.100
on this platform and suddenly they were being

00:15:26.100 --> 00:15:28.759
told they were evicted. They started fleeing

00:15:28.759 --> 00:15:31.639
to competitors like Fansly. Fansly is interesting

00:15:31.639 --> 00:15:34.039
because it looks almost identical to OnlyFans.

00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:35.539
It's like the lifeboat everyone jumped into.

00:15:35.740 --> 00:15:38.120
It was. And OnlyFans saw the data. They saw the

00:15:38.120 --> 00:15:41.639
user sentiment. And just six days later, they

00:15:41.639 --> 00:15:44.580
did a complete 180. They scrapped the ban. They

00:15:44.580 --> 00:15:46.700
put out a statement claiming they had secured

00:15:46.700 --> 00:15:48.940
assurances from their banking partners. Which

00:15:48.940 --> 00:15:51.139
feels a bit like a magic trick. Oh, never mind.

00:15:51.179 --> 00:15:53.200
We fixed it. But the damage was done, right?

00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:56.419
The trust was gone. The trust was eroded. That

00:15:56.419 --> 00:16:00.240
legacy remains today. Every creator on OnlyFans

00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:02.600
has that fear in the back of their mind. Will

00:16:02.600 --> 00:16:04.899
they do it again? Right. It showed that their

00:16:04.899 --> 00:16:07.250
livelihood could have vanished overnight. due

00:16:07.250 --> 00:16:09.950
to a corporate policy change or a banker's whim.

00:16:10.169 --> 00:16:12.149
And that leads us to another layer of deception.

00:16:12.549 --> 00:16:15.230
We talked about the platform betraying the creators,

00:16:15.470 --> 00:16:17.789
but what about the creators betraying the fans?

00:16:18.389 --> 00:16:21.610
This brings us to the illusion of intimacy and

00:16:21.610 --> 00:16:24.539
the chatter scandal of 2024. This is one of the

00:16:24.539 --> 00:16:27.100
most fascinating and disturbing aspects of the

00:16:27.100 --> 00:16:30.019
business. In 2024, investigative reports from

00:16:30.019 --> 00:16:32.179
Reuters and Wired blew the lid off this practice.

00:16:32.379 --> 00:16:34.720
So what did they find? They revealed that many

00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:37.919
of the higher -earning creators, the top 0 .01%,

00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:40.379
aren't the ones talking to you. What do you mean?

00:16:40.519 --> 00:16:42.919
They hire third -party agencies to answer their

00:16:42.919 --> 00:16:45.639
messages. So subscribers think they are sexting

00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:48.159
their favorite model. But they're not. They are

00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:51.000
actually texting a low wage worker, often in

00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:53.279
a different country like the Philippines. These

00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:55.539
workers are called chatters. Wait, hold on. I

00:16:55.539 --> 00:16:57.120
want to circle back to this because I think we're

00:16:57.120 --> 00:16:59.820
glossing over how insane that actually is. It's

00:16:59.820 --> 00:17:02.360
wild. You're telling me that if I'm a subscriber

00:17:02.360 --> 00:17:06.380
and I pay $50 to send a DM saying I had a hard

00:17:06.380 --> 00:17:08.859
day and the response is, I'm so sorry, baby,

00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:11.099
that response might be coming from a guy in a

00:17:11.099 --> 00:17:13.339
cubicle somewhere. That is exactly what the Reuters

00:17:13.339 --> 00:17:15.880
investigation found. These agencies have teams

00:17:15.880 --> 00:17:18.539
of chatters, mostly men, who study the creator's

00:17:18.539 --> 00:17:20.720
personality and mimic her speaking style. But

00:17:20.720 --> 00:17:23.579
isn't that just straight up fraud? If I pay for

00:17:23.579 --> 00:17:25.500
a personal connection with you, if you outsource

00:17:25.500 --> 00:17:29.069
it. That feels illegal. It feels illegal, but

00:17:29.069 --> 00:17:31.710
the terms of service make it a gray area. Technically,

00:17:31.789 --> 00:17:34.569
you are paying for entertainment. A very expensive

00:17:34.569 --> 00:17:37.410
form of entertainment. It is. But this is where

00:17:37.410 --> 00:17:40.410
the class action lawsuits come in. They argued

00:17:40.410 --> 00:17:43.390
that the specific promise of OnlyFans is intimacy.

00:17:43.869 --> 00:17:46.630
If that intimacy is manufactured by a third party,

00:17:46.849 --> 00:17:49.430
the product is defective. It's like buying a

00:17:49.430 --> 00:17:51.049
handwritten letter from a celebrity and finding

00:17:51.049 --> 00:17:53.490
out it was printed by a machine. The value proposition

00:17:53.490 --> 00:17:56.950
just collapses. And yet... does it the revenue

00:17:56.950 --> 00:17:59.650
numbers suggest the fans either don't know or

00:17:59.650 --> 00:18:02.130
and this is the darker possibility they don't

00:18:02.130 --> 00:18:04.250
care as long as the illusion holds up in the

00:18:04.250 --> 00:18:08.170
moment and in 2024 it went a step further it

00:18:08.170 --> 00:18:11.029
wasn't just human chatters no some creators were

00:18:11.029 --> 00:18:13.630
found using ai chat bots so you weren't even

00:18:13.630 --> 00:18:15.849
talking to a human you're talking to a large

00:18:15.849 --> 00:18:17.990
language model trained to extract money from

00:18:17.990 --> 00:18:21.069
you So you're sexting with a robot. You're sexting

00:18:21.069 --> 00:18:24.410
with a robot pretending to be a model who is

00:18:24.410 --> 00:18:28.250
in reality probably asleep. It's industrializing

00:18:28.250 --> 00:18:30.509
the girlfriend experience to the point of automation.

00:18:30.890 --> 00:18:33.329
It's a don't ask, don't tell policy for ghostwriters.

00:18:33.390 --> 00:18:35.690
Oh, basically. But there is a darker side to

00:18:35.690 --> 00:18:38.069
the platform than just fake text. Yeah. We have

00:18:38.069 --> 00:18:39.930
to talk about safety. Because when you have user

00:18:39.930 --> 00:18:42.900
generated content at this scale. Moderation becomes

00:18:42.900 --> 00:18:44.900
a nightmare. This is the heavy stuff, but it's

00:18:44.900 --> 00:18:47.000
necessary to understand the regulatory pressure.

00:18:47.480 --> 00:18:50.079
We are talking about child sexual abuse material

00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:54.420
or CSAM. The BBC did a report in 2021 and Reuters

00:18:54.420 --> 00:18:56.980
followed up in 2024. What did they find? They

00:18:56.980 --> 00:19:00.039
found failures, significant ones. Reuters documented

00:19:00.039 --> 00:19:03.220
30 complaints involving over 200 explicit images

00:19:03.220 --> 00:19:05.700
of children over a five year period. That is

00:19:05.700 --> 00:19:07.599
horrifying. How does that even get onto the platform?

00:19:07.859 --> 00:19:10.099
I thought they had verification. They do. And

00:19:10.099 --> 00:19:12.980
to be fair to OnlyFans, their verification is

00:19:12.980 --> 00:19:15.380
stricter than almost anywhere else. They require

00:19:15.380 --> 00:19:18.619
something like nine pieces of identification.

00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:21.000
Nine pieces. Yeah, selfies, holding your ID,

00:19:21.220 --> 00:19:24.500
government documents, social handles. OnlyFans

00:19:24.500 --> 00:19:26.859
claims to be an industry leader in this. So how

00:19:26.859 --> 00:19:29.220
does it slip through? It's the tension between

00:19:29.220 --> 00:19:33.559
volume and moderation. Even with 99 .9 % accuracy,

00:19:33.980 --> 00:19:36.839
if you have millions of uploads a day, things

00:19:36.839 --> 00:19:39.700
slip through. It's a numbers game. It is. Or

00:19:39.700 --> 00:19:43.460
accounts get sold. Or hacked. The National Center

00:19:43.460 --> 00:19:46.380
for Missing and Exploited Children, NCMEC, has

00:19:46.380 --> 00:19:48.779
actually praised OnlyFans for their voluntary

00:19:48.779 --> 00:19:51.380
reporting initiatives, so they are trying, but...

00:19:51.579 --> 00:19:53.400
The police reports persist. And this brings in

00:19:53.400 --> 00:19:54.920
the political pressure. You have U .S. Congress

00:19:54.920 --> 00:19:57.200
involvement, right? And Wagner has been a vocal

00:19:57.200 --> 00:19:59.039
critic, pushing the Department of Justice to

00:19:59.039 --> 00:20:01.319
investigate. And you have pressure groups. You

00:20:01.319 --> 00:20:04.099
do. Groups like Exodus Cry and the National Center

00:20:04.099 --> 00:20:07.259
on Sexual Exploitation. These groups put pressure

00:20:07.259 --> 00:20:09.779
on the banks. So it's a cycle. The safety concerns

00:20:09.779 --> 00:20:11.880
fuel the banking pressure, which threatens the

00:20:11.880 --> 00:20:13.900
business model. Speaking of business tactics,

00:20:14.099 --> 00:20:16.559
there was a weird story about... Shadow banning

00:20:16.559 --> 00:20:19.420
involving Meta. What was that about? This was

00:20:19.420 --> 00:20:22.259
a lawsuit alleging that OnlyFans actually bribed

00:20:22.259 --> 00:20:25.440
Meta employees to terrorist blacklist their competitors.

00:20:25.720 --> 00:20:27.819
Whoa, wait, to put competitors on a terrorist

00:20:27.819 --> 00:20:30.480
list? That was the allegation. The claim was

00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:33.500
that creators who were on rival sites like Fansly

00:20:33.500 --> 00:20:35.380
were getting their Instagram accounts banned

00:20:35.380 --> 00:20:38.200
because they were falsely flagged as affiliated

00:20:38.200 --> 00:20:40.640
with terrorist organizations. That sounds like

00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:43.339
something out of a spy novel. It does. Now, it's

00:20:43.339 --> 00:20:45.539
very important to note the case was dismissed

00:20:45.539 --> 00:20:48.640
in 2023 on jurisdictional grounds, and a judge

00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:50.799
later ruled that the plaintiffs failed to prove

00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:53.240
unfair competition. So it wasn't proven. Not

00:20:53.240 --> 00:20:55.900
proven in court. But the fact that such an accusation

00:20:55.900 --> 00:20:58.279
was even made reveals how cutthroat this industry

00:20:58.279 --> 00:21:01.400
is. It's a war for attention and for creators.

00:21:01.819 --> 00:21:05.319
OK, so they're fighting banking wars, legal wars

00:21:05.319 --> 00:21:07.900
and moderation wars. So what do they do? They

00:21:07.900 --> 00:21:10.319
try to pivot. They try to go mainstream. Let's

00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:13.599
talk about OFTV. OFTV is the safe for work pivot.

00:21:13.799 --> 00:21:16.579
It launched in 2021. It's a streaming app that

00:21:16.579 --> 00:21:19.079
has zero nudity. Which means it can actually

00:21:19.079 --> 00:21:21.140
exist on the Apple App Store and Google Play

00:21:21.140 --> 00:21:25.339
Store, which, you know, famously ban adult apps.

00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:28.480
Correct. It's a branding exercise. They are trying

00:21:28.480 --> 00:21:31.339
to say, look, we are a media company. We aren't

00:21:31.339 --> 00:21:34.099
just porn. So what's on it? They have shows like

00:21:34.099 --> 00:21:36.359
Model Farmers, which is exactly what it sounds

00:21:36.359 --> 00:21:39.140
like. Influencers working on a farm. I have to

00:21:39.140 --> 00:21:41.500
admit, I watched a clip of Model Farmers. It's

00:21:41.500 --> 00:21:44.579
surreal. It is. They also had the Creative Fund

00:21:44.579 --> 00:21:48.059
Fashion Edition with Rebecca Minkoff. They had

00:21:48.059 --> 00:21:50.319
comedy specials with Whitney Cummings. What's

00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:52.180
the strategy here? Is anyone actually subscribing

00:21:52.180 --> 00:21:54.400
to OnlyFans for the comedy specials? Probably

00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:57.019
not. But it provides a fig leaf of legitimacy.

00:21:57.480 --> 00:22:00.819
It allows the CEO, currently Kylie Blair, to

00:22:00.819 --> 00:22:03.519
go on news programs and talk about their creators

00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:05.660
without immediately having to defend pornography.

00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:08.880
It normalizes the brand name. It's funny because

00:22:08.880 --> 00:22:11.059
this is what Tim Stokely originally wanted, wasn't

00:22:11.059 --> 00:22:13.079
it? Yeah. He wanted the chefs and the fitness

00:22:13.079 --> 00:22:15.319
instructors. He did. He wanted the Patreon crowd.

00:22:15.500 --> 00:22:17.019
So they've kind of come full circle, at least

00:22:17.019 --> 00:22:19.700
in their PR. In their PR, yes. But the money

00:22:19.700 --> 00:22:21.839
is still coming from the same place. Speaking

00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:24.980
of normalizing, let's talk about that visa loophole.

00:22:25.099 --> 00:22:27.420
This was a Financial Times report from January

00:22:27.420 --> 00:22:31.130
2026. This blew my mind. The O -1 visa. This

00:22:31.130 --> 00:22:34.230
is a U .S. visa designated for individuals with

00:22:34.230 --> 00:22:36.730
extraordinary ability or achievement. Right.

00:22:36.769 --> 00:22:38.990
Usually this is for Nobel Prize winners, world

00:22:38.990 --> 00:22:41.210
-class actors, top scientists. People at the

00:22:41.210 --> 00:22:44.170
absolute top of their field. And now, OnlyFans

00:22:44.170 --> 00:22:46.730
models. The report found that over half of U

00:22:46.730 --> 00:22:49.289
.S. O -1 visas were going to influencers and

00:22:49.289 --> 00:22:52.190
OnlyFans models. That is wild. So the U .S. government

00:22:52.190 --> 00:22:55.180
is officially recognizing that... Being really,

00:22:55.319 --> 00:22:58.819
really good at monetizing intimacy is an extraordinary

00:22:58.819 --> 00:23:01.599
ability. In a way, it is. It's a recognition

00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:04.220
of the economic power of these creators. They

00:23:04.220 --> 00:23:06.220
are bringing in foreign revenue. They are running

00:23:06.220 --> 00:23:08.819
businesses. But it certainly bends the original

00:23:08.819 --> 00:23:11.700
intent of that visa category. To say the least.

00:23:11.740 --> 00:23:14.200
And we can't ignore the geopolitics. OnlyFans

00:23:14.200 --> 00:23:16.759
is a global platform, but the world is fracturing.

00:23:16.819 --> 00:23:19.559
Right. In 2022, after the invasion of Ukraine,

00:23:19.859 --> 00:23:22.200
Russian and Belarusian accounts were restricted.

00:23:22.910 --> 00:23:25.049
Payments were paused. So sanctions hit them directly.

00:23:25.430 --> 00:23:27.589
Directly. It showed that digital platforms are

00:23:27.589 --> 00:23:30.269
not neutral. They are subject to sanctions. And

00:23:30.269 --> 00:23:33.450
more recently, in 2024, China blocked access

00:23:33.450 --> 00:23:36.069
entirely. So the map is shrinking in some places,

00:23:36.109 --> 00:23:38.869
even as it expands in others. So bringing us

00:23:38.869 --> 00:23:42.289
to the present day, it is 2026. Where does the

00:23:42.289 --> 00:23:45.369
company stand? Financially, it is a behemoth.

00:23:45.640 --> 00:23:50.920
2023 revenue was $1 .3 billion, up 20 % from

00:23:50.920 --> 00:23:53.440
the previous year. Still growing at a crazy rate.

00:23:53.559 --> 00:23:57.720
Still growing. And they paid $150 million in

00:23:57.720 --> 00:24:01.059
U .K. corporation tax alone. That buys a lot

00:24:01.059 --> 00:24:02.680
of goodwill with the British government. And

00:24:02.680 --> 00:24:04.819
there are rumors of a sale, right? As of 2025,

00:24:05.299 --> 00:24:07.400
Phoenix International was in talks to sell to

00:24:07.400 --> 00:24:09.599
a U .S. investor group, the Forest Road Company,

00:24:09.839 --> 00:24:14.390
at an $8 billion valuation. $8 billion. From

00:24:14.390 --> 00:24:17.470
a 10 ,000 pound loan from dad. It is a staggering

00:24:17.470 --> 00:24:20.269
return on investment. And under CEO Kylie Blair,

00:24:20.390 --> 00:24:22.990
who was appointed in July 2023, the mission has

00:24:22.990 --> 00:24:25.210
been to dispel misconceptions. That's the PR

00:24:25.210 --> 00:24:27.650
term for it. That's the term. They want to be

00:24:27.650 --> 00:24:30.250
seen as a legitimate tech unicorn. They want

00:24:30.250 --> 00:24:32.410
the valuation of a tech company, not the discount

00:24:32.410 --> 00:24:34.710
of a porn company. So what does this all mean?

00:24:34.869 --> 00:24:37.950
We have looked at the history, the money, the

00:24:37.950 --> 00:24:41.309
scandals, the pivots. I think OnlyFans is the

00:24:41.309 --> 00:24:43.559
ultimate case study of the modern internet. It

00:24:43.559 --> 00:24:46.440
proves that direct monetization works. It proves

00:24:46.440 --> 00:24:49.460
that people are willing to pay for connection.

00:24:49.720 --> 00:24:51.799
A simulated connection. A simulated connection,

00:24:52.059 --> 00:24:55.279
yes. But it also exposes the flaws in our digital

00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:58.339
infrastructure. The power of banks, the difficulty

00:24:58.339 --> 00:25:01.180
of moderation at scale, and the blurry line between

00:25:01.180 --> 00:25:03.960
reality and fantasy. It's a platform of liberation

00:25:03.960 --> 00:25:06.859
for some. We can't deny that. Creators keeping

00:25:06.859 --> 00:25:09.759
80 % is life -changing money for single moms,

00:25:09.960 --> 00:25:12.720
for students, for people who couldn't work traditional...

00:25:12.750 --> 00:25:15.970
jobs. Absolutely. It democratized the adult industry.

00:25:16.109 --> 00:25:18.309
It took power away from shady producers and gave

00:25:18.309 --> 00:25:20.089
it to the talent. That is the positive legacy.

00:25:20.329 --> 00:25:22.450
But on the flip side, you have the chatters.

00:25:22.450 --> 00:25:24.549
You have the industrialization of I love you.

00:25:24.890 --> 00:25:27.329
You have the safety risks. And that duality is

00:25:27.329 --> 00:25:29.609
what makes it so fascinating. It's messy. It's

00:25:29.609 --> 00:25:32.509
profitable. And it's not going anywhere. I want

00:25:32.509 --> 00:25:34.029
to leave the listeners with a thought that's

00:25:34.029 --> 00:25:35.910
been nagging me since we started researching

00:25:35.910 --> 00:25:37.950
the chatter scandal and that O -1 visa thing.

00:25:38.170 --> 00:25:41.269
Go on. OK, so we have established that the U

00:25:41.269 --> 00:25:43.250
.S. government is giving extraordinary ability

00:25:43.250 --> 00:25:46.289
visas to these creators. Oh, right. But we also

00:25:46.289 --> 00:25:48.470
know that many of these creators are hiring ghostwriters

00:25:48.470 --> 00:25:51.470
to do the actual connecting with fans. With chatters,

00:25:51.470 --> 00:25:54.690
yeah. So if the person you are paying for intimacy

00:25:54.690 --> 00:25:58.819
is actually a ghostwriter in a call center. And

00:25:58.819 --> 00:26:01.039
the extraordinary ability recognized by the U

00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:03.619
.S. government is just the ability to monetize

00:26:03.619 --> 00:26:08.440
that illusion. Have we completely redefined what

00:26:08.440 --> 00:26:11.000
it means to be a public figure or an artist in

00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:13.319
the 21st century? That is the question, isn't

00:26:13.319 --> 00:26:16.079
it? Are we rewarding the art or are we rewarding

00:26:16.079 --> 00:26:18.279
the efficiency of the extraction? Think about

00:26:18.279 --> 00:26:20.700
that and think about where the line is drawn

00:26:20.700 --> 00:26:23.539
between the creator economy and digital exploitation.

00:26:23.920 --> 00:26:26.259
It's a line that moves every day. Thanks for

00:26:26.259 --> 00:26:28.430
listening to this deep dive. we will catch you

00:26:28.430 --> 00:26:29.589
on the next one stay curious