Since last month, the major platforms that Russia has not blocked have left the country of their own accord. Facebook was one of the first, before Twitter and YouTube received similar treatment soon after. His expulsion has been attributed to Putin’s attempts to seek control of the narrative surrounding his invasion of Ukraine. But others have left to try to avoid Putin’s terms. Among them was TikTok, which suspended its services a few weeks ago. Netflix followed suit, while tech companies like Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco and many more have restricted their services or pulled out.
Surprisingly, OnlyFans is still going strong. In response, dozens of Ukrainian female content creators have been writing to the platform pleading to cut their Russian counterparts off the service.
Leaving the platform in protest. Some have even decided to delete their accounts in protest of the platform’s refusal to leave, while others have demanded that the platform explain the nature of its ongoing activity in Russia as it becomes a small cohort of Western platforms to resist. the digital iron curtain descending on the Russian population.
Model Lil_Monki explained in this Vice report that the longer OnlyFans and similar global brands stay in Russia, the longer Ukrainians will be subject to murder and even war crimes: “Some people say it’s not fair because not all people they support Putin and not all people are to blame for their actions. But neither are the people of my country. They pay the price with money and with their comfort. The Ukrainian people pay with their lives.”
A moral dilemma. It’s a moral dilemma not lost on Ukrainian sex workers, either, who have long flocked to Telegram group chats with their Russian counterparts as equals: a unified Russian-speaking community that spans a myriad of countries in the world. Eastern Europe.
Now, as a relentless stream of missiles continues to rain down on the cities they once called home, these workers struggle to sort out their feelings for their Russian colleagues; that they are not both responsible for Putin’s invasion, but that they should not be spared from harsher sanctions. “I am not directly against the Russian people, as I said, I have no direct hatred for the Russian people. But, in general, I think that they should close all the possibilities of making money in the global market, ”explained one of them.
The sanctions also affect Russian workers. Hundreds of Russian and Belarusian creators have seen their accounts suspended in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They use the platform to produce and sell adult content, which sometimes accounts for 40% of their income or more. Although OnlyFans restored all those accounts a few days ago, the interruption cost them lost subscribers and thousands of euros in sales.
The company’s response. In a statement, OnlyFans said it had restored the Russian accounts, explaining that the pause came after the country’s financial institutions were hit by sanctions that limited their ability to process international transactions. “We do not terminate or suspend any creator accounts based on the location of the creator, and we are doing our best to support our community,” the company defended.
And they buried any suspicion with this statement: “As a global business, OnlyFans supports our creators and understands that they are not responsible for these heinous acts.” However, some content creators warn that any action like this can endanger their economy: “from buying food to paying rent.”