[Exclusive] ‘Relationship video with boyfriend’ uploaded to a secret site… A woman in her 20s who made hundreds of millions of dollars in profits, eventually.

British adult platform ‘OnlyFans’
Receive a subscription fee and post exposure videos
Damage from video leakage and distribution
Teenagers approached with curiosity
Concerns about involvement in crimes such as sexual exploitation

Violation of the Information and Communications Network Act on domestic flights
There is only one request for correction from the National Defense Commission this year.

# Ms. A, a woman in her 20s, earned about 320 million won in profit by posting about 80 pieces of exposed content on OnlyFans to cover living expenses and tuition. Mr. A received a monthly subscription fee of about $5 from about 1,000 subscribers, had face-to-face sex with men he met through OnlyFans, and received money approaching several million won per session.

# Another woman in her 20s, Ms. B, was continuously failing to find a job, and at the suggestion of her boyfriend, she started taking nudity videos and videos of sexual intercourse and uploading them to OnlyFans. Mr. B, who received a monthly subscription fee of $15 from about 200 subscribers, uploaded about 30 videos and earned about 100 million won.

# Mr. C and Mr. D, a couple in their 30s, also received a subscription fee of 20,000 to 30,000 won per month on OnlyFans and uploaded about 30 videos of themselves having sex, earning about 300 million won in profit.

OnlyFans is a British content platform that appeared in 2016 and grew rapidly during the pandemic, with 238.8 million users and more than 3.1 million creators as of early last year. Users can view the creator's photos, videos, and live broadcasts by paying a monthly subscription fee. It may seem similar to YouTube membership, Instagram membership, etc., but OnlyFans differs in that it allows sexual content.

At OnlyFans, content creators take 80% of the profits. Overseas, celebrities are already earning hundreds of millions of won by posting videos on OnlyFans.

Joining OnlyFans itself is not a crime, but creating and uploading pornographic material is against domestic law. For this reason, there is a high chance that you will fall into crime without even knowing it just by signing up for OnlyFans.

In particular, the problem is that the existence of OnlyFans is becoming known not only to adults but also to teenagers. There are also concerns that people who access OnlyFans content out of curiosity may be exploited by sex offenders. One teenager said, “You can easily find a 30-second preview bait video on X etc. asking you to subscribe to OnlyFans.”

The problem is that government regulation is difficult to achieve. An official from the Korea Communications Standards Commission said, “OnlyFans is not a company with a branch in Korea, so it is difficult to impose separate sanctions on the business operator, and even if you talk to OnlyFans, there will be no response.” He added, “In reality, it may be faster to report the individuals who upload the videos to the police and subject them to criminal punishment.”

In fact, according to data received by Maeil Business Newspaper from the Korea Communications Standards Commission, the committee has approved only one request for correction until the 23rd of this year. If illegal adult content is distributed on OnlyFans, the National Security Commission can check it and take action to prevent access within the country, but the number of requests for correction is decreasing every year. The National Defense Commission approved 20 requests for correction in 2021, but only one request was made this year.

OnlyFans's domestic creators, number of users, or sales are not known at all. The N-room Prevention Act mandates domestic telecommunication companies to block the distribution of illegal videos, but there is no way to apply this to overseas platforms such as OnlyFans.

According to the Information and Communications Network Act, businesses with an average daily number of users of more than 100,000 for the three months immediately preceding the end of the previous year and businesses with sales of more than 1 billion won in the previous year must designate a person in charge of youth protection, but OnlyFans cannot be regulated by applying this provision because its size has not been estimated.

Since it is in a regulatory blind spot, it is difficult to be protected even if a crime occurs. Mr. A complained, “I am experiencing severe mental pain because the video I uploaded to OnlyFans was illegally leaked,” and added, “We need stronger regulations as more and more victims continue to emerge.”

Cho Seong-geun, a lawyer at Daeryun Law Firm, said, “In the beginning, creators were given probation or leniency by the court, but as the OnlyFans business grew, there was a shift toward stronger collections and stronger punishments.” He added, “Most people in their 20s and 30s upload videos to make money, and there are cases where people are arrested for starting out to make a living, so users need to be aware and be aware that it is a crime.”

Reporter Hyejin Ji (ji.hyejin@mk.co.kr)

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[Exclusive] ‘Relationship video with boyfriend’ uploaded to a secret site… A woman in her 20s who made hundreds of millions of dollars in profits, eventually (Shortcut)