OnlyFans complaint over BBC investigation rejected by Ofcom

A complaint by OnlyFans about a BBC investigation which highlighted claims that child abuse images had originated on its site has been rejected by Ofcom.

OnlyFans, which is well known for hosting sexual content, argued that it had been treated unfairly.

But the complaint has now been dismissed by the broadcasting watchdog.

The decision comes after Ofcom announced its own investigation into concerns children are accessing pornography on OnlyFans.

In 2022, the BBC reported claims made by a senior US investigator that images of young children apparently being exploited had originated on the British website.

The interview was broadcast on Newsnight and on iPlayer as part of a documentary called OnlyFans Uncovered.

The investigator told the BBC that in just an hour they were able to find ten child abuse images on other platforms that had originated on OnlyFans. They believed the photos had been created within the last six months and included watermarks from the website.

Some images showed pre-pubescent children being directed to produce abusive images, according to the agent, who specialises in investigating paedophile rings online.

Chief Executive Officer Keily Blair told the BBC in 2022 that OnlyFans had invested significantly in age and identity verification tools

The BBC agreed not to identify the investigator who redacted account usernames to protect their investigation.

OnlyFans complained that it was treated unfairly because, it said, the BBC had refused to provide it with detail about the images, such as account handles or URLs.

This information, it argued, would have enabled it to find out if the images had ever been posted on the platform, or if they had, how quickly they had been removed or reported.

OnlyFans said that this had denied it a meaningful right of reply and left viewers with a misleading impression of its safety efforts.

In its written decision, Ofcom rejected the complaint.

It said OnlyFans had been provided with sufficient information to understand the nature of the allegations and given an appropriate and timely opportunity to respond.

OnlyFans made a separate complaint about the article published on the BBC News website. Ofcom is only required to publish an opinion for online material - but found it to be duly impartial and fair.

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OnlyFans creators can upload images and videos behind a paywall.

BBC News investigations from 2021 had previously revealed that children had sold and appeared in videos on OnlyFans and that its moderators were allowed to give multiple warnings to accounts posting illegal content before deciding to close them.

When interviewed by the BBC in 2022, the company's bosses said they had taken firm action following the reports and transformed the platform into the safest social media site in the world.

Keily Blair, who was OnlyFans' chief strategy officer at the time but is now its CEO, said the firm had invested significantly in improving its age and identity verification tools.

This month, Ofcom announced its own separate investigation over concerns OnlyFans is not doing enough to stop under-18s accessing pornography on its site.

In a statement written in response to the regulator's probe, OnlyFans said it had been experiencing a technical issue and insisted it "works closely" with Ofcom to "implement and develop best-practices on online safety."