Tyler Posey Calls OnlyFans Experience “Mentally Draining”

In case you’re not up to date on the celebrities-joining-OnlyFans controversy, allow me to explain why people got mad.

It all started last August, when actor Bella Thorne joined the platform — which allows users to charge a subscription fee for exclusive content — and made more than $1 million in less than a day.

OnlyFans users can technically upload any kind of content they want, from fitness classes to cooking tutorials. But the platform has become a particularly popular source of income for sex workers, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, which has forcibly shut down their usual places of work.

After that, several people claimed her subscribers had demanded refunds from OnlyFans, and drew a direct correlation between Bella’s alleged false advertising and new restrictions on the platform, which apparently included a limit on the amount users can charge for pay-per-view content and a $100 cap on tips.

They argued that this was unfairly limiting potential income for the sex workers whose livelihoods are reliant on the platform.

Bella later apologized for causing the furore, saying she only ever intended to help by “drawing attention” to the existence of the site and therefore destigmatizing sex work. “I wanted to bring attention to the site,” she wrote. “And in trying to do this I hurt you.”

In a statement to BuzzFeed News, a representative for OnlyFans denied that changes to transaction limits are a direct result of any one person’s use of the platform.

“I’m trying my hardest to be artistic as possible with the content I put out,” Tyler said. “Because I don’t want it to just be porn, you know? That’s not what I do and I don’t want to take it away from the people that are doing that.”

“I just want to be artistic and stay in touch with my fans,” he added.