“The best month, I made 500 euros,” says a young woman who publishes erotic content for a subscription of around ten euros per month. These platforms are increasingly attracting young people, and fake agencies are always asking them for more content.
“We are in my living room, which is very special, that’s where the magic happens…”, slides Chanice Aphrodix, into her studio where she lives near Paris, and from where she takes the photos that she then posts for more than a year and a half on OnlyFans and Mym. For several years, these platforms have been offering anyone the opportunity to sell photos or videos for a subscription, often around ten euros per month. There we find cooking photos or sports videos, it is the erotic, even pornographic content that has made these two sites famous.
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The particularity of this new pornography business lies in the fact that it is not porn stars who reveal themselves, but amateur models who hope to make a little income in this way. Like every day, the 27-year-old young woman is on her sofa, her eyes glued to her phone. “I connect to my platform, if I want to post, I press the little ‘+’ symbol”. Only paid subscribers can access the content: “I offer it for around ten euros, it depends on the platform. We have commissions: out of ten euros, I only earn five euros.”
“If I adapt to the customer, I can make even more money”
These platforms actually hide a vicious circle. “The best month I made was around 500 euros, adds Chanice Aphrodix. We say to ourselves that it’s a good start, but if I make even more content, and if I force myself to produce even more and if I adapt to customer demand, I can make even more money, and there, we enter a vicious circle, with the risk of losing ourselves in something unhealthy.”
In recent months, a new business has emerged. On TikTok, the profile is often the same: men offer promises of a lot of money. They give advice, either so that OnlyFans accounts earn more, or advice on setting up an “OnlyFans agency”, based on the principle of a classic modeling agency. “It’s a booming business that requires almost no investment and can earn you more than 20,000 euros per month”can we hear in one of these videos.
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On the Internet, sites present themselves as real modeling agencies for OnlyFans and Mym. It is impossible to contact them by phone, even after applying. Amid naked photos on the Internet, these agencies promise to become a star, and even legal and moral support.
“Up to 80% commission”
“Everything is not as straightforward as what we can see on the sites with formal contracts, alert Audrey, who runs the “Your stars in reality” page on social networks. Some agencies can take up to 80% commissions, sometimes there are abuses with these agencies which very clearly abuse their model and also take charge of the Instagram, TikTok or Twitter account. Some girls have public images that don’t suit them at all. These agencies hold communication chats with clients, and as a result, these are videos that are requested from creators which are not necessarily the videos desired. There may be disrespect, theft of videos.”
“I have heard from creators who have their videos stolen by agents, and the videos are resold on Telegram channels.”
Audrey, creator of the Facebook page “Your stars in reality”at franceinfo
The French company Mym was founded in 2019 and has 12 million users. She increased her turnover by 25. “All the deals that can be made between content creators and agencies are things that are done outside the platform and that we cannot see, defends Gauthier Lapeyronnie, who works for Mym. We know that there are agencies that are less reputable. Our role is to do a lot of prevention with content creators, to try to ensure that they can have the right reflexes when they want to start discussions with these agencies, or that it happens well and that they make sure that it is the agencies that support them.”
The platform no longer wants to communicate so much on this subject and wants to highlight other more general public content, such as cooking and sports coaching. But according to Audrey, it is erotic content that drives the platforms. “I compare Mym and OnlyFans to the pornographic industry, explains the young woman. We have seen advertisements for Mym and Onlyfans among influencers, it encourages people to frequent the platform in this context.” For its part, Mym assures that less than 50% of creators produce erotica or pornography on their site.