Several lawsuits are claiming that subscription platform OnlyFans, known mostly for its adult content, have taken extreme steps to undermine its competitors. The latest of which comes from a class-action suit against both OnlyFans and Meta, led by rival website JustFor.Fans, which alleges that the x-rated site bribed Meta executives to put thousands of porn stars on a terror watchlist.
The list in question is a database of terror-linked accounts run by the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), an NGO aimed at preventing the spread of mass shooting and terrorist content across social media sites. The effort was formed by Meta, Microsoft, Twitter, and YouTube, which shares a digital “hash” fingerprint across its member sites when a piece of content is flagged as terrorist-related.
In the allegation, the adult performers were put on the list if they posted x-rated content on sites competing with OnlyFans, causing their Instagram accounts to be falsely tagged as containing terrorist content. They were then effectively “shadowbanned” across Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and other sites.
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Lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the suit claim that they have obtained a list of more than 21,000 Instagram accounts they say were unfairly tagged as potential terrorists. They further allege that the bribes were routed from OnlyFans’ parent company, Fenix International, in October 2018 through a secret Hong Kong subsidiary into offshore Philippines bank accounts of crooked Meta employees.
Around the same time, the suit alleges that while OnlyFans’ competitors were apparently hit with a spike in content classification that limited their reach, OnlyFans users had “mysterious immunity” to the crackdown. Meta has told the BBC that it found no evidence of the GIFCT being abused, while OnlyFans said they are ” not aware of any evidence which supports these allegations”.
Aside from the class-action suit, there is a similar case filed by the Adult Performing Artists Guild, which Meta had asked to throw out back in June, with both cases set for a hearing in September. Back in February, the BBC reported of another lawsuit by competing platform FanCentro, claiming the same conspiracy.
(Source: NYPost)
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