Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi has written jointly with the UK's Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Eleanor Lyons, to Parliament calling for an inquiry into allegations of exploitation, trafficking, and safeguarding failures linked to OnlyFans following a BBC documentary.
OnlyFans: Inside the Machine sees Amber Haque investigate the world of OnlyFans agencies, in which a third-party business or team manages a creator's profile, handling marketing, messaging, and more in exchange for a percentage of the revenue.
The BBC investigation heard from 60 UK OnlyFans creators as well as joining OFM Empire, one of the largest private Telegram groups for agents, and claimed that these agencies can be "exploitative and threatening" and that OnlyFans "has known about concerns about over-exploitative OFMs for at least four years".
Sharing the letter on X, Lyons wrote: "This is not about lawful content creation. It is about ensuring that where exploitation, coercion, trafficking or abuse may be occurring, there are effective safeguards in place to identify harm, protect victims and hold those responsible to account.
"As the UK's Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, I believe that as exploitation increasingly evolves online, our systems for safeguarding and accountability must evolve too."
In a separate post, Antoniazzi wrote: "Despite marketing itself as a harmless and empowering progressive fantasy, this investigation indicates that OnlyFans is in fact a playground for commercial sexual exploitation and abuse.
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"The harms uncovered are not just online, they concern real world exploitation and abuse against real people, many being young women. Exploitation on the site by third parties seems breathlessly easy - this is pimping, pure and simple.
"There needs to be a Parliamentary inquiry into allegations of exploitation, trafficking and safeguarding failures linked to OnlyFans. I have this morning written jointly with @UKAntiSlavery to the @CommonsSITC calling for just that."
An OnlyFans spokesperson told Digital Spy: "OnlyFans was designed to empower creators to control and monetise their content. We take the safety of our users seriously and invest heavily in measures to protect our community, including strict onboarding processes, payment controls, and ongoing account moderation, as well as collaborating closely with charities, expert groups, and law enforcement to continuously evolve our safety features and support investigations.
"While some creators choose to work with third parties to help manage their online presence, OnlyFans does not endorse or have relationships with management agencies, and cannot review or influence any contractual agreements Creators choose to enter into outside the platform as we are not party to them.
"If anyone raises a concern about a Creator’s account, we will immediately restrict the account, conduct an investigation and take action to ensure the Creator is in control of their OnlyFans account.
"Despite repeated requests, the BBC refused to share account details of any OnlyFans users or the agencies that they claimed formed the basis of their reporting."
Antoniazzi appeared in the documentary, telling Haque that she believes OnlyFans bosses need to be "held to account".
On whether she believed the platform is breaking the law, Antoniazzi said: "I think those laws that are being broken are hiding behind a paywall, and they choose not to see it because they have a lot of money, they are very powerful, and they are saying that they are this fun, empowering social media platform."
She claimed that OnlyFans is "like the biggest pimping website that exists", and that she would like to see the government look at the company and create legislation to protect content creators.
Several creators who operate on OnlyFans spoke to Haque as part of the documentary, including Lily Phillips, who joined the platform in 2020.
Phillips, who made headlines in 2024 when she had sex with 101 men in a video she posted to OnlyFans, said that people "don't see sex workers as human".
"I have obviously heard the horror stories of girls signing up with agencies and feeling like they have to push out more and more and more content, do more extreme stuff, and lose their independence," she said to Haque, claiming that people "want a piece of the pie" when they realise how much money can be made.
"I think in the adult industry, there was always exploitation in terms of pimps, whatever you call them," she continued. "I don’t think it’s a new concept, but it’s a new platform."
Phillips said that there are no regulations surrounding agencies and OnlyFans, which can create "a dangerous space where vulnerable people can be taken advantage of".
She added: "As sex workers, people don’t really take what we’re saying seriously and don’t see us as human sometimes, so it’s hard to get them to see that we need regulations."
OnlyFans: Inside the Machine is available to stream now on BBC iPlayer.
