Russian OnlyFans accounts will be ‘temporarily paused’

OnlyFans has “temporarily paused” Russian accounts and says it can no longer serve Russian creators. The company confirmed the change motherboard in a statement today.

The subscription-based platform, popularized by sex workers, had previously allowed Russian creators to stay and continue to get paid despite economic sanctions. In February, Rolling Stone reported the Russian OnlyFans creators briefly lost access to their accounts without warning. Shortly after, OnlyFans said it restored access and that “accounts will have full functionality as long as we continue to have payment methods to support them.”

But on Thursday the company said it was taking steps to pause accounts receiving payments in Russia. In a statement to motherboard, The company says it has “examined several options to continue providing our services to creators affected by the Russia-Ukraine war,” but “further tightening of payment restrictions to and from Russia” prevented it from servicing those accounts.

It wasn’t immediately clear how OnlyFans supported Russian accounts up to this point and what has changed. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The edge.

Since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine, the number of platforms they can use has steadily dwindled for Russian developers. American artisans noticed a mass disappearance of Etsy cross-stitch designers — many of whom were based in Russia — after Russian storefronts were March banned. After Russia banned Instagram and Google stopped selling ads, Russian YouTubers had to do it find new ways to get paid. OnlyFans’ recent policy change is another example of developers having little recourse when companies go out of business in Russia.