Despite sex workers and pornography being the key component to the subscription-based platform OnlyFans’ booming success, the service has announced they will soon be banning sexually explicit content from its site. Starting in October, pornography and nude photos the platform deems sexual in nature (yeah, we’re not sure what jury will be determining that either) will no longer be permitted. The new regulations come as a part of OnlyFans’ effort to “clean up” their platform for more investment opportunities and inevitably pivot to more mainstream content creators (such as celebrities, artists, chefs, and personal trainers) using the platform — and people are pissed.
On such pissed person is none other than late night talk show host Stephen Colbert, who had quite a bit to say about the decision on last night’s episode of The Late Show. During Colbert’s regular news segment, the host was quick to question the decision, as well as the morals of OnlyFans prospective investment bankers:
Evidently, pornography does not live up to the high moral standards of investment bankers — unless it’s them fucking the economy.
Colbert then went on to joke about how seemingly arbitrary OnlyFans new criteria is, pointing out the part in the company’s statement that claimed, “nudity that is not sexually explicit will remain allowed.” While the clause perhaps means to protect nude photography or breastfeeding mothers, the lack of actual guidelines and how wildly open to interpretation (and therefore discrimination) it is makes the rule extremely questionable and worrisome. Colbert read the line, then cheekily explained it means creators can only post nude images “that would never turn on anyone,” drawing attention to the strange, unquantifiable standard.
However, Colbert ended the segment by reassuring OnlyFans subscribers the website’s new policy isn’t the end of pornography:
I do have good news for the OnlyFans fans out there. There is another place to find sexually explicit material on the internet — it’s called the internet.