“She started posting photos of her legs and ended up masturbating with sex toys on camera” reveals the mother of a minor girl – A 14-year-old used her … grandmother’s passport and bank account to sell inappropriate photos
The British pay-per-view site OnlyFans is failing to effectively prevent underage users from selling and appearing in obscene videos on the platform, according to a major BBC journalistic investigation . According to the relevant publication, people under the age of 18 have created accounts using fake IDs, while the police spoke about the case of a 14-year-old who managed to open an account with her … grandmother’s passport.
According to the highest-ranking British police officer in the field of child protection, children fall victim to “exploitation” on the platform. OnlyFans, for its part, claims that its age verification systems comply with regulatory requirements. The platform has more than one million “creators” who share video clips, photos and exchange messages with their subscribers for a monthly fee. OnlyFans, which hosts all this material, holds a 20% share of all payments . There are many types of content on the platform, but what is mostly known for is pornography. That is why all users are required to be over 18 years old.
OnlyFans was one of the big winners of the pandemic , with its popularity skyrocketing at a time when the majority of citizens in many parts of the world were locked up. The social networking platform has grown exponentially since 2019 and now has more than 120 million users.
Some creators make millions through their accounts, but for the vast majority of creators the platform was a way to earn a living or boost their income in the midst of the pandemic. The BBC has decided to investigate allegations of minors selling pornographic materialon the site, although it is illegal to post inappropriate pictures with teenagers or children. As part of the investigation, journalists discovered that a 17-year-old girl from a suburb of the south east of England was selling videos showing her masturbating and using sex toys . Also, a person under the age of 18 participated in sex videos uploaded by an adult user account from Nevada, USA, violating the terms and conditions of the site.
The BBC reporters also managed to create an account for a minor user, using the identity of a 26-year-old woman and thus proving that the age verification process applied by the site can be “tricked”.
Although OnlyFans argues that now the disputed accounts have been closed, the BBC News spoke with specialists in the protection of children, teachers and police officers for underage users phenomena on the platform, and gained access to the service bearer consultants notes Childline to children and adolescents. These notes included the case of a girl who confessed to counselors that she had access to the site when she was only 13 years old.
Some serious cases mentioned in the article, based on the information from the above sources, are the following:
– Schools shared anonymous reports for schoolgirls and students using the platform, including aA 16-year-old who bragged to her career counselor that she was making a lot of money and showing off her outrageous spending on Instagram.
– According to Childline consultants, among the minor creators and users of OnlyFans are victims of sexual abuse, young people with psychological problems and suicidal thoughts .
There are complaints to the police from children who claim that they have uploaded their photos on the site without their consent, while a 17-year-old had complained that she had been blackmailed .
Missing children appear in OnlyFans videos, according to a US watchdog, which also talks about child sexual exploitation. “It is becoming increasingly clear that children are using OnlyFans. The company is not taking sufficient measures to prevent children from taking advantage of the opportunity to make money or from falling victim to the same victims of exploitation, “ said Police Chief Simon Bailey, head of the child protection department. “It started with foot photos”
17-year-old Leah managed to open an account using a fake driver’s license and started selling inappropriate videos. She revealed the truth to her mom last January, when the bank “froze” her account after receiving a payment in excess of 5,000 pounds , for the disposal of inappropriate material on the site. The teenager’s mother described to the BBC her shock and surprise when she learned the truth: “I could not understand why some people were willing to pay so much money for something like this.”
Leah had several issues growing up and was away from school for long periods of time. At one point they were trafficked to the school where she was taking nude photos of herself, without her consent. As she told her mom, she initially intended to post only photos of her legs, having previously made some money selling such material via Snapchat. But soon he started uploading more sexual content, with masturbation and the use of sex toys . Leah used most of the money she made to give gifts to her then boyfriend, with whom they are now divorced.
A complaint about Leah’s age received by the platform last January resulted in an audit, however the moderator who took over the case did not find anything suspicious and no further action was taken. According to the girl’s mother, all the other social media of her daughter clearly state her age and it would be very easy for someone to find out that she is a minor. OnlyFans has no legal obligation to conduct this type of investigation, although its representatives told the BBC that they were checking users’ social media as part of their checks.
Leah stopped posting on the platform, however her account remained active for about 4 months after the complaint, with over 50 photos and videos. It was only after the BBC contacted the company that the account was finally closed.
The 14-year-old who sold nude photos
Another shocking case mentioned in the BBC article is that of a 14-year-old girl who managed to make a page on the platform using her grandmother’s passport and bank details . According to Hertfordshire police officers , the girl transferred the money that went into her grandmother’s account, from the subscriptions for the inappropriate material she uploaded, to her own bank account.
In this case, the platform assured the BBC that it has recently upgraded the age verification system it uses, so that in the future there is even less chance of something similar happening. However, the BBC tested this new “highly effective system” in April: When the fake ID was rejected, reporters managed to make an account on OnlyFans for a 17-year-old, using her 26-year-old sister’s passport. The girl, of course, never used the account created for research purposes only.
The site requires prospective creators to pose next to an identity document and then submit a photo showing them holding it next to their face. However, the platform system failed to distinguish the two girls, despite their age difference.
