Online shock: Social media site Only Fans to ban porn

The changes will affect many of the service's users. Photo / Getty Images

Only Fans, the social media site that has become notorious for allowing anyone to create and sell pornographic content, is banning sexually explicit material in an attempt to clean up its image.

From October, Only Fans will block creators from posting explicit content but will continue to allow nude photos and videos - as long as they meet the company's policies.

The service exploded when Covid hit, allowing sex workers to move online and sell subscriptions to explicit content.

It has also attracted celebrities and encouraged members of the public to supplement their income by selling explicit content on the site.

With 130 million users, Only Fans is now trying to pivot to a cleaner business model and focus on music, food and fitness content.

Only Fans told Bloomberg it was making the change to attract investors.

"In order to ensure the long-term sustainability of our platform, and continue to host an inclusive community of creators and fans, we must evolve our content guidelines," OnlyFans said.

In a statement to Motherboard, Only Fans provided more detail on the porn ban.

"Effective 1 October, 2021, OnlyFans will prohibit the posting of any content containing sexually-explicit conduct. In order to ensure the long-term sustainability of the platform, and to continue to host an inclusive community of creators and fans, we must evolve our content guidelines.

"Creators will continue to be allowed to post content containing nudity as long as it is consistent with our Acceptable Use Policy. These changes are to comply with the requests of our banking partners and payout providers. We will be sharing more details in the coming days and we will actively support and guide our creators through this change in content guidelines."