OnlyFans has suspended Russian accounts and said they can no longer serve Russian content creators. The suspension of this service was in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
So far, OnlyFans is one of the few Western tech companies that still has its doors open to Russian users. But the effects of the economic sanctions imposed on Russia seem to make OnlyFans' position even more difficult.
"Over the past few months, we have explored several options to continue providing our services to creators affected by the Russia/Ukraine war," OnlyFans said in its official statement, as quoted from Mashable, Sunday (23/4/2022).
"However, due to increasingly stringent restrictions on payments to and from Russia, OnlyFans is no longer able to properly serve the Russian creator community. As a result, we are taking steps to temporarily suspend accounts that accept payments in Russia."
In February, when Russia started its invasion of Ukraine, the Russian creator OnlyFans was unable to access his account and payments. Due to economic sanctions, OnlyFans cannot support payments to creators on its platform.
Blocking this access had created panic among creators who relied on revenue from OnlyFans. But soon the accounts and payments were successfully restored with full functionality.
But two months later, the platform, widely used by adult content creators and sex workers, again said it couldn't support Russian creators. From the official statement, it seems that this policy is only temporary but it is unknown what will happen to the creators and users of OnlyFans in Russia in the future.
OnlyFans is the umpteenth technology platform that has been blocked, banned, or has its operations blocked in Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine. In March, Facebook and Instagram were completely blocked in Russia.
Twitter, which restricts official accounts belonging to the Russian government, is also difficult to access. Meanwhile TikTok is still available, but only for viewing as Russian creators are prohibited from uploading new content.