At the same time, in 1995, a movement against the availability of porn picked up rapid speed in the US congress. An amendment to the Communications Decency Act planned to extend obscenity laws into online porn. Touting pornographic images as “computer pollution,” and pushed under the guise of protecting children, the amendment would allow webmasters of porn sites to face jail time if minors could access their website. A year later, the act would be signed into law, marking the beginning of the conservative battle against online porn.
OnlyFans was founded in 2016, and gained traction in the online sex working world primarily due to its payment model. With a model payout of 80%, they had a competitive split compared to other clip sites. The site was allegedly stolen from the creator of the now defunct Follow+, Lindsey Leigh. Both websites boasted a new type of paid social media for creators, rather than typical clip sales. The revival of the subscription-based model of Web1 porn meant that content creators (and the website) were able to bring in recurring revenue with exponential growth.
Follow+ capsized one month after OnlyFans launched, resulting in a large gap for a niche market of early users — online Dominatrices and their devotees. Since it was, allegedly, the same website as Follow+, the transition many had to OnlyFans was seamless. Some of the first creators logging on were Financial Dominatrices, drawn in by the paywall model and – in the pre-Bella Thorne days – a virtually limitless price tag for pay-per-view content and tips. No other website had a small, yet heavy-hitting, niche catered to so well. As Dommes began sharing screenshots of their earned income in the thousands just off this one site, curiosity piqued throughout the internet.