Lee thanks TikTok, an app she barely knew about five months ago, for her new status as a six-figure earner. Until recently, she led a relatively average life: she worked in retail on the East Coast, shared an apartment with roommates, and, by all standards, was an ordinary 20-year-old woman. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March, she, like many others, joined TikTok and posted videos of herself doing "random" things, like putting on makeup, showing off her height (under 1,50 feet tall), and dancing. People seemed to like it.
The more she posted, however, the more commenters posed a specific question: Did she have a OnlyFans? "Actually, I didn't know thatOnlyFans existed until I was recommended to,” says Lee, who goes through Goth Egg online and asked to use only her first name to protect her privacy. OnlyFans allows creators of all kinds to put their work behind a paid membership, similar to Patreon, but it's primarily associated with sex work. So many people have asked Lee about OnlyFans, she says, that she decided to create a page, simply responding to a comment to spread the word. Five months and a viral video later, Lee says she earns between $110 and $000 a month.
“The more famous I became on TikTok ", Lee said, "the more fans I have on OnlyFans."
Lee is one of many creators who discovered that TikTok, with its algorithmically generated For You page and propensity to propel ordinary people to stardom, holds the key to building a massive subscriber base on OnlyFans. Some creators already have a OnlyFans and see TikTok as a marketing platform offering free and massive reach, while others join TikTok just to learn more about OnlyFans later, as Lee. The two independent platforms have developed a sort of symbiotic relationship, feeding off each other and their users, for better or for worse.
“I just started using TikTok, and I have already gained more than 100 subscribers from the first week of use,” explains Lydia Jasminee who had a OnlyFans before getting on TikTok. “I must have a TikTok because it is the most popular social media platform at present. This is where you will get the most subs. »
The tricky part of advertising a OnlyFans on TikTok, however, is that the app would apparently prefer that these users disappear. Its team often deletes their accounts and videos, and the app bans pornography, most nudity, and any content that "commits, promotes, or glorifies sexual solicitation or sexual objectification." In fact, direct links to OnlyFans are prohibited, confirmed TikTok à The edge.
Still, their videos perform well, mainly because the video's own algorithm TikTok takes over and brings their videos to millions of people around the world. TikTok cannot prevent users fromOnlyFans to join, but these women have to find a balance between creating content that's sexy enough to get people to OnlyFans while operating under the radar of the team TikTok.
Jasminee says most people understand the fact that she might have a OnlyFans solely from her content, which mostly consists of jokes and her wearing a tight bra or clothes. “If you see a half-naked woman online, she probably has a OnlyFans", she says. Jasminee tells commenters the link in her bio TikTok, which connects people to all of its pages, including OnlyFans. Her only income at the moment, which fully supports her, is OnlyFans.
"Even the girls who didn't start out wanting to do OnlyFans when they made their TikTok, they will get so many comments, and they know they can make a lot of money, so [they] start one anyway,” says Elizabeth Danu, whose videos TikTok usually involve her bouncing around while the overlaid text encourages viewers to find enlightenment and happiness. Rather than OnlyFans, Danu directs fans to her Patreon, which she says she uses on OnlyFans because she doesn't consider herself a sex worker.
When TikTok deletes accounts or videos, women often don't know why. Lee says she was forced to create a new account after someone reported her, but she doesn't know which video was the problem. Danu says she will no longer “zoom in on any body part,” which seems to have done the trick to avoid deleting videos. Women continue to find workarounds. Lee, for example, does not mention OnlyFans in his content, except in his biography, which says, "Top 5 / top 0,01% rank if you know what I mean", a nod to the internal popularity ranking system ofOnlyFans.
Moderation is particularly crucial so that TikTok remains a well-known children's application. It is very popular with teenagers and young adults – more than a quarter of users are under 18, according to data from last year – and the fact that sex workers promote their content directly to the phone of every teenager could alarm parents or regulators. However, the connection OnlyFans is a well-documented open secret online.
You can get an idea of the thirst for TikTok from Reddit, where communities have formed around documenting women who look slightly risky. R/ TikTokThots collects content from women who tend to post sexier videos, or at least those with more bodies. Not all of these women have OnlyFans, but Danu credits the Reddit ecosystem and TikTok feeding the subscriber bases of those who do.
“In fact, when I launched my TikTok for the first time I had to block the word OnlyFans comments because each comment would look like: "Create a OnlyFans, create a OnlyFans, create a OnlyFans ", she says.
TikTok can also promote the success of creators who started on OnlyFans. Jenna Phillips says her account OnlyFans barely grew in its first year, until it went viral on TikTok. Phillips plays the role of a puppy, posting videos of herself being scolded or sent to a crate because she apparently urinated on the floor. Her first viral video involved her lapping in a bowl; it gained over a million views before being deleted. (She hasn't fully transitioned from her TikTok as well as OnlyFans to puppy content only after finding success.) She now says she makes six figures a month and runs the pages full-time.
“I am very grateful to TikTok", she says.
Its account TikTok original, which she said had more than 250 subscribers, was removed for apparently violating community guidelines. Her new account, @puppygirljenna, which she launched in early August, already has the same number of subscribers. She doesn't link her page OnlyFans in his profile and instead directs his followers to his Instagram, where they can request to follow his private account.
“I don't know of any rules or anything specific that you can't [link to your account], but I've heard other people say it can cause problems for your account,” she says.
All of the women say they try to keep their content relatively PG so kids can get there without having to worry.
“I have a feeling they're younger, so they don't understand all of nature [of puppy play],” Phillips says.
Lee says she will remove comments that she can say are from children because, at least when she has a smaller audience, she could check out their individual profiles. “I wish there were more parental controls,” she says.
TikTok recounts The edge it is "committed to promoting a safe and positive enforcement environment" and "will continue to closely monitor and remove content that violates our policies," including accounts that attempt to redirect traffic.
Women are on their own when it comes to determining the audience that TikTok brings them. But more than anything, they want to understand why their accounts and videos are being deleted. Phillips says she appealed a video takedown and was successful, but she has no idea why she was flagged in the first place. She wishes that TikTok gives her an ambassador or contact that she could ask for help when she doesn't know what went wrong.
“It was devastating to wake up [my account being deleted],” she says. “I think I cried.
TikTok may not want sex workers to advertise OnlyFans, but he can never stop them. Its software is a powerful discovery and marketing tool for whatever content people are promoting. The company just needs to stop denying who can find an audience.
Update September 17, 11:55 a.m.ET: Updated to include a comment from TikTok and confirmation that links to OnlyFans are forbidden.
