Onlyfans, the platform for adult content has been in focus in recent months the public – for very dubious reasons. In August of this year, the company changed its guidelines: From October, “sexually explicit” content should no longer be allowed. The background to this was the statutes of financial service providers such as Master Card, which demanded that platforms should check whether any pornographic content is illegal before they are published. At least that’s the official explanation.
A short time later, Onlyfans rowed back again. Probably due to the great criticism of many content creators on the platform, it should now be possible to continue to offer pornographic content. Nevertheless, there is great uncertainty in the scene. Some creators are still planning to switch platforms because Onlyfans’ position seems too obscure to them. The company has at least one crack in its reputation.
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No space for nipple and penis
The reason for this rather unusual appearance on a platform that is mostly used for sexual satisfaction are the other platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok. So the big social platforms that keep restricting which content can be shown – especially when it comes to bare skin. It doesn’t matter whether this skin is painted or photographed. Art or porn.
The museums of Vienna have apparently often felt this fact themselves. Under the heading “Vienna uncensored – for only fans”, the Vienna Tourism Board goes into more detail about the motives. “Naked statues and well-known works of art were put on the blacklist of social media guidelines. And the channels of some “repeat offenders” – that is, cultural institutions – were even temporarily blocked, “it says. In order to be able to make nipples and penises accessible to a wider public in the name of art, the decision was made to exhibit the corresponding works of art on only fans – without fear of censorship.
Publicity against a serious background
Which of course should be a publicity stunt nevertheless has a serious background. The large platform holders are extremely restrictive, especially when it comes to nudity. This applies to users’ vacation photos as well as recognized art that has been hanging in museums for decades. The image that a nipple is a bigger affront than the depiction of violence is drawn again and again by these platforms – and thus sometimes forms millions of people who use this social media.
So the city of Vienna is trying with its action probably above all to throw a spotlight on this grievance. It remains to be seen whether other museums and cultural institutions will follow suit. The fact that the Tourism Board itself chose a platform that was recently on the verge of restricting its explicit content due to the directive of large financial companies is not without a certain irony.
