OnlyFans creators call for boycott over owner's ties to pro-Israel lobby

Then of Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, held a massive fundraiser. According to a February report by The Lever, Leonid Radvinsky, the billionaire owner of OnlyFans, and his wife pledged $11 million to the powerhouse lobbying group, making him the group's top donor.

While Radvinsky has denied making such a donation, some OnlyFans creators have questioned the idea that the revenue they generate for the platform is potentially funneled into the coffers of the powerful pro-Israel lobby.

AIPAC recently launched a $100 million effort to defeat pro-Palestinian candidates in the 2024 election cycle and is lobbying Congress to maintain unconditional support for Israel's war on Gaza, where more than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed. Last week, during AIPAC's annual policy conference, the American Perspective mentionted that the group provided supporters with dubious talking points to use to pressure lawmakers, including false claims about how people are not starving in Gaza and Israel is not blocking aid shipments.

Sex workers have long fought to alleviate abuse and exploitation in their industry. While sites like OnlyFans can theoretically be useful tools for sex workers and content creators to gain more autonomy and control over their work and client selection, many believe that the platform's near-undisputed dominance of the subscription sex market in cyberspace has led to neglect and mis-treatment by management. Long frustrated by the lack of tools, resources and safety OnlyFans provides to the sex workers who dominate its content, Radvinsky's alleged donations to AIPAC were the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back for the fed-up creators who are now calling for a strike . and boycott.

BodyXBlunts, a creator who opted out of OnlyFans and is involved in organizing the boycott, says Rolling rock that sex workers and adult content creators have every reason to empathize with the Palestinians in their own struggle.

“As an activist, as a sex worker, we want decriminalization because we want safety. They want security and freedom. If we can't figure it out, who can? Being in solidarity with them is easy. It doesn't need brain power, it doesn't need fierce will, it doesn't need it and it doesn't have it. Not since this happened, not at all.”

According to Molly Simmons, a creator who recently left OnlyFans and has become a leading figure in the boycott, “hundreds” of creators have joined the walkout — and organizers are hoping for many more.

Creators who joined the boycott in the wake of The Lever's report relied on word of mouth, direct communication and social media sites such as X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram to promote their call for action. “We are an autonomous group of sex workers and content creators calling for a double strike and boycott of the OnlyFans platform in protest of their owner's financial support of the Palestinian genocide. document says the boycott leaders. “For sex workers and content creators, we urge you to go to alternative fan sites and subscription services for your work. For customers and fans, we urge you to delete your OnlyFans account and support your favorite creators on their alternative fan sites.”

Simmons says Rolling rock that she “completely [understands] because someone making $100,000 on OnlyFans isn't going to give up that income, but that's the vast, vast minority of people. The average OnlyFans user earns $2,000 a year.” In her view, the key to convincing creators to leave OnlyFans is not only the questionable policy of its owner, but the fact that the platform itself is garbage.

“Whether it's genius marketing or divine intervention, [OnlyFans] it's become a household name, even though OnlyFans as a platform – apart from Zionism – sucks,” he says. “It's the worst. It is terrible.”

Radvinsky took over OnlyFans in 2018. Beneath his mantle, the platform has a long, controversial history of mistreating sex workers and adult content creators who represent a significant — if not dominant — portion of its content. The 20 percent fee he takes from creators' profits is already a lot, but in 2021 Radvinsky briefly tried to eliminate NSFW content from the site entirely, leaving creators under a cloud of worry that the most popular platform for online work they can start them with little notice.

Radwinski did not immediately respond to a request for comment from rolling rock,

As mentioned earlier by rolling rock, Savvy digital NSFW creators have been proactively spreading their content to alternative platforms for some time in case OnlyFans bans them. But with the Covid-19 pandemic spurring a wave of new creators, many were unprepared for temporary bans, and community advocates felt it was time to help sex workers implement safeguards against digital eviction. “Everyone in the field needs to have digital platforms that they own,” said Cameron Glover, a trainer for sexuality professionals. Rolling rock in 2021. “This means having your own website and mailing list where you regularly instruct followers, fans and community members to add themselves. It's also important to think about the structure of your business: What do you do? How can you create ways to do that without being physically present and create demand for your work?”

In their mission statement, boycott organizers point to the many pitfalls of OnlyFans, including “low video quality, poor support, no clip saving, [and] no loyalty referral program,” adding that “sex workers are accustomed to having multiple platforms in order to avoid deletion, surveillance and profit maximization. What we're doing now is asking you to take that leap. If you've been thinking about switching platforms, now is the time.”

“Not only does it make a difference for the Palestinian people, but it will also help us move away from a pornophobic platform that does us no good while offering no real support, features or benefit in return,” the call to action reads. says.

“We've done a lot of direct outreach to mid-sized creators, we've done the calling and we've done some one-on-one outreach to larger creators to try to get them to share,” says Simmons.

says BodyXBlunts that much of the work being done revolves around helping users create content migration plans. “I wanted to create free resources,” they say of working with creators looking for technical support on how to successfully get their content onto alternative platforms like LoyalFans, ManyVids and Sunroom.

“I don't think people realize the collective bargaining power or the collective power that we have as workers,” they add. “They need our money because when we get that payment, they get a share. If we transfer our followers [to other platforms at even] 10 percent a month until the end of the year, they're going to hurt that it's going to hurt them.”

Like Simmons, BodyXBlunts sees Radvinsky's alleged contributions to AIPAC as an extension of a much larger problem with the way OnlyFans relates to the creators who generate its revenue: “Even if they're not tuned into everything that's going on in Palestine . [creators] they know how badly they were treated in the past. And the inconsistency of that is not something any other business would put up with if they had other options.”

It is difficult to get a clear picture of the impact of the strike. OnlyFans — as creators who spoke with Rolling rock point out — it only provides the most rudimentary search tools for users and creators, often forcing them to use third-party platforms to connect with fans and other entertainers.

“Unfortunately, it's not like there aren't immediate results,” says Simmons. “Because it takes people days, weeks, sometimes months to migrate all their data and migrate all their users [to other platforms].”

“We are committed to continuing to spread the word for as long as it takes,” he adds. “You don't always see the big drastic results. Sometimes it's a movement that lives in perpetuity, and we're going to continually do the work to educate people away from it.”