TikTok is facing criticism over claims that its platform is being used by popular OnlyFans performers to attract young female followers and promote the sale of sexual content through other websites.
A report by campaign groups in the United Kingdom and Australia found that some of the platform’s most popular female content creators use seemingly harmless lifestyle videos to hint at their presence on OnlyFans, where they sell adult material.
The researchers said the videos often feature shopping trips, skincare routines, baking, pets and beauty advice, with coded language, emojis and gestures used to direct viewers towards explicit content hosted elsewhere.
Although TikTok prohibits users from mentioning or directly linking to OnlyFans on their accounts, the report found that performers had developed ways to get around the restrictions. Some use terms such as “corn” in place of “porn”, or combine the corn and star emojis to suggest that adult content is available on another platform.
The study, titled TikTok to OnlyFans Pipeline, was carried out by the Centre to End All Sexual Exploitation (Cease), a UK-based campaign group, and Australia’s Collective Shout.
Researchers monitored posts from prominent OnlyFans performers over several months and followed content recommendations generated by TikTok’s algorithm. They focused on material that did not contain explicit sexual imagery but appeared to promote the performers’ paid adult content.
Some of the videos followed the popular “get ready with me” format, commonly known as GRWM, in which creators film their hair, makeup and skincare routines. The researchers said coded references embedded in such posts allowed performers to advertise their adult-content businesses while presenting themselves as lifestyle influencers.
The report also identified a recurring message that selling sexual content on OnlyFans leads to wealth, independence and an attractive lifestyle.
Some performers displayed images of luxury homes, cash, expensive cars and private jets while telling followers how much money they had made from the platform. Others presented their success as a transformation from poverty or unemployment, suggesting that opening an OnlyFans account could provide financial security and improve the lives of their families.
The researchers argued that such portrayals could make the sex industry appear to young women and girls as an easy route to financial freedom and luxury.
Concerns over the reality of OnlyFans earnings
The report questioned the impression that substantial wealth is typical among OnlyFans creators.
Data from the platform indicates that its top 5,000 performers have earned more than $1m each since it launched in 2016. However, the study estimated that average annual earnings among its five million registered creators are about $1,000.
Melinda Tankard Reist of Collective Shout accused TikTok of helping to direct young women towards the commercial sex industry.
She said girls and young women needed protection from an industry she described as seeking to recruit them to produce explicit material.
Tankard Reist said the research was commissioned partly because of concerns about the large teenage followings of popular OnlyFans personalities, including Sophie Rain and Ari Kytsya, and the way they presented the financial benefits of creating pornography.
Rain gained attention through videos associated with the Bop House, a luxury adult-content production house in Miami. The property accommodates a rotating group of women who produce and sell sexual content on OnlyFans.
The report noted that recruitment efforts for the Bop House are also promoted on TikTok. Women interested in joining have posted sexually suggestive dance videos while tagging the house’s recruitment account.
OnlyFans creators use TikTok to build audiences
The researchers said TikTok had become an important platform for OnlyFans performers because it allows them to build large audiences and direct followers towards content sold elsewhere.
They argued that TikTok’s sizeable teenage user base makes the relationship between the two platforms particularly concerning, especially as many creators begin building their online profiles on TikTok before expanding into adult-content businesses.
The study also found that some OnlyFans personalities combine lifestyle posts with commercial advertising. Their promotions range from household products, including pet food, burgers and pineapple juice, to sex toys and condoms.
One example cited was Ari Kytsya, who was appointed last year as a brand ambassador for Urban Decay, the cosmetics brand owned by global beauty company L’Oréal.
Kytsya, who has described herself as a “mattress actress”, featured in widely viewed TikTok advertisements promoting makeup products through references to how they perform on mattresses. The report highlighted the campaign because Urban Decay products are marketed to consumers that include teenagers.
Campaign groups call for wider restrictions
The authors of the report want existing restrictions on exposing under-18s to explicit pornography to be extended to content that promotes or is closely connected to the sex industry.
They argue that even when videos do not show explicit sexual activity, their use of coded references and lifestyle marketing can encourage young audiences to view the production and sale of pornography as an attractive career option.
TikTok said it prohibits the sharing and display of sexual content and uses technology to enforce its community guidelines. The company also said its systems are designed to prevent material considered unsuitable for teenagers from reaching them.
OnlyFans maintained that its platform is intended exclusively for adults and said it has strict registration procedures designed to prevent under-18s from gaining access.
