I want to open an OnlyFans account, but is it safe?
OnlyFans is an internet content subscription service where creators can earn money directly from their subscribers or fans.
For most people, the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of OnlyFans is adult content, which became the site’s central function. As such, it’s common to be initially concerned about OnlyFan's safety.
The first thing to say is that OnlyFans is as safe as any other social network, and it keeps improving its safety measures to face new issues that arise. But, like any other social platform, OnlyFans isn’t without its risks.
In this post, we’ll cover to main dangers reported by other creators and what you can do to avoid them.
What did other creators report?
Before telling you about common risks coming from OnlyFans, many creators advise thinking about two things before opening an account. Specifically:
- You’re aware and happy with the fact that once your content is online, it will most likely be there forever and out of your control. This means that people outside of OnlyFans might view your photos and videos. Make sure you have thought about if and how this may affect your life.
- Mental health: many people find OnlyFans a positive experience, but some creators have faced moments of highs and lows. For this reason, it’s important to keep this factor in mind when opening an account, especially if you already struggle with it.
Having said this, let’s start with the most common dangers on OnlyFans reported by content creators.
- Promoter scams: many creators turn to promoters to boost their account’s growth, but not all of them are legitimate. You might be contacted by fake promoters who will take your money without delivering any service before disappearing. To avoid this, make sure to carry out some background checks on the agency and the agent before paying for any service.
- Identity theft: identity thieves use your content from other social networks to create fake OnlyFans profiles. However, this has become extremely difficult as OnlyFans now requires you to verify your identity to open an account.
- Content leaking: this is unfortunately inevitable. As previously mentioned, once your content is online, you no longer have full control over it. Some subscribers might screenshot your photos or record your video and try to sell them somewhere else without your permission.
- Stalking: note that this isn’t a common issue but it’s worth mentioning it as it can happen, especially when your fanbase is numerous. To avoid or discourage this, do not share any personal information about yourself or where you are.
What does OnlyFans do to avoid this?
OnlyFans offers many protections to decrease risks for creators. For example:
- Personal data encryption and security: OnlyFans requires ID verification to open a profile, limiting the possibility of fake accounts. Moreover, it has measures in place to prevent loss of and unauthorized access to personal information. In fact, all personal information collected by OnlyFans is encrypted and kept on a separate server to avoid data leaking.
- Two-step verification: OnlyFans lets content creators lock their accounts using two-step verification to further avoid any hacking. With this feature, anyone logging into your account will need to enter a six-digit one-time PIN sent to your smartphone.
- Copyright protection: OnlyFans gives users the option to add watermarks to their uploaded videos and photos. Moreover, it has a dedicated copyright team that will issue takedown notices to websites, hosting services, and search engines for free in case someone steals and sells your content.
- Restrictive tools: OnlyFans allows creators to limit other people’s access to their content. For example, you can limit who can send your direct messages, turn off comments to your posts, or make your profile fully private.
What can I do to limit risks?
You’ll never be able to be 100% sure that you won’t experience any risks but you can limit them. In particular, here are some tips about how you can protect your privacy and try to avoid piracy.
How to protect your privacy
- Limit access to your personal information (email, phone number, where you live …) and personal social media to other people.
- If possible, use a separate device for OnlyFans and check social network apps’ privacy settings for what data your apps have access to. This is because many social media recommend people you know by looking at your phone data. If you are making an Instagram account on the same device as your personal Instagram, it may lead anyone who follows you to the account you have made to promote your OnlyFans.
- Be very cautious about opening random links from DMS or opening emails from random contacts and install some anti-virus protection on your devices.
- Add two-factor authentication to all of your accounts as this makes it harder for people to try gaining access to your account without you knowing.
What you can do about piracy
- Never send photos that might be used as verification ones to avoid impersonations.
- Watermark your content so that it’s easily recognisable if leaked.
- Regularly look on google search for leaks and report the issue if you find any of your content. You can send take-down notices yourself or OnlyFans can do it, you just have to send them the links to the leaked content.
- Some websites might manage to keep your content even if technically stolen. In this case, you need to either go through legal channels or ask Google to remove specific results. You can ask for a google search removal here, and for an image removal here.
