"I feel physically safe but not politically safe": Understanding the Digital Threats and Safety Practices of OnlyFans Creators
Ananta Soneji, Vaughn Hamilton, Adam Doupé, Allison McDonald, Elissa M. Redmiles
33rd USENIX Security Symposium · Day 1 · USENIX Security '24
This talk, presented by Ananta Soneji and her colleagues, delves into the complex digital security landscape faced by OnlyFans creators, a unique demographic at the intersection of sex work and content creation. While OnlyFans offers significant financial autonomy through its direct-to-consumer subscription model, its mainstream visibility, coupled with the persistent stigma surrounding sex work, exposes creators to a distinct set of digital threats. The research presented aims to provide a nuanced understanding of these challenges, ranging from online harassment and content leakage to systemic platform risks like precarity and censorship, and to document the proactive safety practices creators adopt.
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This research delivers a critical, deep dive into the unique and often overlooked digital security challenges faced by OnlyFans creators. It meticulously details how sex work stigma, platform design flaws, and external pressures create a landscape of toxic content, content leakage, and economic precarity, while also highlighting the sophisticated, costly defensive strategies creators employ. The talk delivers actionable insights for platforms and policymakers by exposing systemic failures.