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At 22 years old, the Gen Z Florida denizen has wrecked an entire industry, impacting thousands of sex-workers during a pandemic. And she did it with one really amateurish con.
After a gaggle of Gen Z kids dragged millennials through the mud a few months ago (rightfully so I might add) I’ve been cautiously optimistic that pressure to stop comparing themselves to Harry Potter characters and obsessing over their dogs and wine might come from the younger generation. Well, now millennials get some schadenfreude due to Bella Thorne’s massive screwup. In an article that Paper Mag ran with 5 days ago, it announced that she made “one million dollars in a day” on OnlyFans.
With this sensational headline and the 246 words that followed, it created a lot of buzz around creators leaving Instagram to find other ways to monetize content on the internet, which is a hot topic among those making a living on the web, especially in regard to sex workers. It also contained some pretty massive falsehoods and left out a LOT of information on how this simple “pivot” would impact the lives of thousands of sex workers almost instantaneously.
Let’s start with a vague line about how “Thorne is also in talks to possibly star in a documentary film that explores her experiences using OnlyFans down the line.” It’s nothing less than 100% thirsty promo-driven bullshit.
After the LA Times came out with a piece about how “she also says she’s using the site as research for a new movie she’s making with Sean Baker, the director of such critically acclaimed indie films as The Florida Project and Tangerine” it took less than 2 days for him to come out and deny any involvement with Thorne whatsoever:
“I would like to make it clear that the news of me making a film (documentary or fiction narrative) about OnlyFans and using Bella Thorne as research is false. I’m NOT attached to this project,” Baker said in a statement on Friday.
And then, she scammed her entire following and Onlyfans itself.
OnlyFans, if you don’t already know, is a subscription-based social media platform. Since the passing of SESTA/FOSTA and the shut down of Backpage, a digital message board where many sex workers screened and connected with potential clients, OnlyFans came on the scene to fill a need left by sites like Tumblr, Craigslist, and Instagram cracking down on “adult content”. It’s the way a lot of folks make their money these days. It is a real job for so many people. Whether you agree or not, guess what? I can see your internet history and it turns out you watch porn.
Additionally, in case you have forgotten, we are in the middle of a pandemic with record unemployment. It’s quite clear that many folks are currently relying on OnlyFans to make money and stay afloat in these trying times.
Enter Bella Thorne, a celebrity who wants to do some posturing and sensational marketing to strengthen her brand by jumping into a growing industry, taking a massive dump all over it, and dipping out because she couldn’t handle the heat.
She started an OnlyFans and sent out a $200 Pay-To-View message and claimed that it was a nude. Once subscribers paid to open it, they discovered she was actually just in lingerie, basically SCAMMING her fans. Suddenly, pretty much everyone wanted their money back because they were just conned. This cost OnlyFans a bunch of money, due to their money-back guarantee, including their own processing fees.
Due to Bella Thorne’s blatant con, OnlyFans changed their policies, hurting content creators. The maximum price a content creator can charge for a PPV now: $50. Additionally, all funds generated through the platform by creators are pending for 30 days, instead of one week, as was the previous rule. A result of OnlyFans trying to limit their exposure to credit card fees and refunds.
Previously, creators were paid weekly. Now they are paid monthly. So, because of one individual’s scammy bullshit, 500,000+ creators, who still have rent/bills to pay and mouths to feed, are going to have revenue losses and cashflow issues.
Not to mention the fact that this is only going to feed into the prejudiced and inequitable stereotype that sex work isn’t a “real job”.
So here’s a message for celebrities like Bella Thorne who think they can just “dip their toes” into an industry like this: Stop fucking things up for the rest of us. You are already loaded and have a following. Use it for good, and make some positive change instead of trying to find more ways to make a quick buck.
Recommended:
“When The Music Stopped” on The Music District Podcast(Opens in a new browser tab)
The impacts of this will no doubt be temporary, OnlyFans will have to react to the pressure coming down from its content creators. They are the lifeblood of the platform. OnlyFans garners its strength through diversity and it needs to stay this way. OnlyFans is a tool, one that can be used to empower thousands of people or one that can be used to scam the tits off of a gullible following wanting to see more than just…tits.
