OnlyFans 'agents' control and threaten creators while taking half their earnings, BBC finds

OnlyFans 'agents' control and threaten creators while taking half their earnings, BBC finds 44 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Natasha Cox , Amelia Ellis , Kirstie Brewer and Mike Radford , BBC News Gus Palmer/BBC OnlyFans creator Rebecca was subjected to abusive messages and violence Warning: contains details of violence that some readers might find distressing Rebecca, an OnlyFans creator, joined an agency after they promised to help her earn more on the adult social media platform - instead, they abused her, threatened her daughter and dispatched violent masked men to attack her at home, she says. "They were lovely at the beginning." The 29-year-old from south Wales says her new managers told her she was beautiful and they had "never seen a girl" like her before. But within weeks they turned "quite controlling", insulting her appearance and forbidding her from going out with her friends, she tells BBC Three documentary OnlyFans: Inside the Machine . The abusive behaviour escalated after she changed her account login details, worried the agency - which could access her account - would lock her out, she says. "I will have you and your daughter wrote off," said one message seen by the BBC. A brick smashed her window and, a few weeks later, two masked men arrived at her house. One came inside, she says, strangled her and threw her "up and down the stairs". She shows the BBC photos of bruises over her legs and throat. Her ordeal forms part of a pattern of allegations against agents, self-styled online as OnlyFans managers (OFMs). They promise to help creators grow their businesses on the platform but, BBC findings show, are sometimes exploitative and threatening. We heard from 60 UK OnlyFans creators and embedded ourselves in one of the largest private Telegram groups for agents, called OFM Empire, which has 24,000 members. There, we found advice on signing creators, taking control of their accounts and reaping profits - often using the threat of violence. One user called this the "pimp method". OnlyFans has known about concerns about over-exploitative OFMs for at least four years, when allegations about agencies first surfaced in the international press. But, for the first time, our investigation focuses on the UK, where OnlyFans is based. It shows the platform is not doing enough to protect creators from exploitation, according to the human rights experts and lawyers who have seen our findings. "What Rebecca experienced are all recognised signs of exploitation - control, coercion, financial pressure and an inability to leave freely," the UK's independent anti-slavery commissioner, Eleanor Lyons, tells the BBC. "It is something that the government needs to look at in more detail… we potentially have a platform which is enabling exploitation, enabling abuse." An OnlyFans spokesperson said: "The allegation we 'turn a blind eye' [to these issues] is unfounded." The company takes user safety "incredibly seriously" and invests "heavil