Adult content creators have long been afraid that OnlyFans will reverse direction and ban them from the platform.

Most experts agree that’s not likely due to the massive backlash they got last time this happened.

But yesterday something changed that has everyone greatly concerned.

A website called Axios, claims they have been speaking with an insider who told them that they have been trying to raise private capital last year to “partially cash-out”, but that didn’t gain traction because of the platform’s adult content.

Among the SPACs contacted by OnlyFans was Forest Road Acquisition Corp. II, co-led by former Disney execs Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, but the two sides are no longer in talks.

The SPAC, whose team includes Shaquille O’Neal as an adviser, ultimately couldn’t get past the porn, per sources. 

Forest Road’s first SPAC acquired digital fitness company Beachbody at a $2.9 billion valuation, but the stock has since gotten pummeled. Its second SPAC last year raised $350 million in an IPO.

According to Axios, OnlyFans was to reposition itself less as a porn platform, and more as a place for fans to connect directly with creators, sort of like a combination of Patreon and TikTok.

Now, the platform may be going public, meaning that it will offer stock options and open itself to investors. This poses an issue of whether porn will be welcome on Onlyfans as past attempts to gain investors led to the banning of sex work.

Onlyfans is attempting to bring in more cash which is great, but as Input Mag says: “Is it really worth it if you have to change the entire nature of your platform to do so?”

At the moment, “Onlyfans doesn’t actually have enough interest to [make] a deal happen,” the publication Axios shares. They’ve had issues with investors dropping out due to their close relation to porn. Which raises the question: why would the platform attempt to fit in where its users are not welcome? It would reveal a clear disregard for the safety of the platform’s Creators, users, and the communities it has created.

This is the most important part of the whole story. OnlyFans may dream of raising money through investments but at this time they don’t have enough interest to make this deal a reality.

So don’t panic. OnlyFans has gone on record and said they will continue to allow creators to post any content, including nudity, as long as it meets their acceptable use policy. So for now, you have nothing to worry about. And I promise we here at Fleshbot will let you know if that changes.

OnlyFans has even gone on record with Vice saying they will never ban porn.

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