As of this writing, OnlyFans is the 400th most visited website in the world. To put that number into perspective, a site like Discord is lower on the list. But since this site is often reserved for adults, when you’re a content creator, you’d like to be able to be anonymous and quietly post your videos without being recognized.
OnlyFans and Privacy: How to Stay Anonymous on OnlyFans
Personally, I had multiple anonymous social media accounts that I started from scratch. No friends or family members found out until I told them a few months ago, and then I started showing my face. How did I do it?
- I bought a brand new phone, dedicated solely to my OnlyFans account
- I checked that there were no contacts in the phone.
- Most social networks suggest your account to your contacts and vice versa… even if you have turned off these settings.
⇒ The first thing to know is that most anonymous creators are discovered by their friends or family because of the contacts of the device they are using.
What is OnlyFans?
OnlyFans is a platform where influencers and celebrities can share private content with their paying follower base.
- Fans can either view free content that influencers post
- either choose to “unlock” the content by paying a certain amount of money per post
This platform has generated a lot of interest from porn stars and amateur porn personalities who wanted to share exclusive content with their fans – for a price.
Adult content is the main thing OnlyFans is known for, and that’s the majority of the content you’ll find there.
Given the nature of the platform, users and creators may want to take steps to protect their privacy when using OnlyFans.
Another reason to want to be anonymous on OF
It’s sad to say, but the reality is that there are bad people in this world .
So it’s entirely possible to be the victim of a disgruntled fan who thinks they have a claim on you. There have been creators who have lost a lot of things, including high-paying jobs, because their private lives were shared with the company.
Do what you can to block your location, but social media is public. Anything that can make you identifiable to people who know you, like your room decor, tattoos, etc. can be another way to be discovered.
Even people who aren’t paranoid seek anonymity in case they ever want to get a regular job. Personally, I have no idea what I want to do with my life, so anonymity is just an insurance policy. I’m fully aware that I could be found out one day and lose a job because of it, and I’m willing to take that risk because I know I have other prospects to fall back on.
How to Safe and Stay Anonymous on OnlyFans
Whether you want to use OnlyFans as a fan or a creator, there are several things you can do to protect your privacy and internet security .
- If you want to fly under the radar, you should start by creating an anonymous email .
- Next, you can create your OnlyFans account and make sure you have enabled the correct settings.
1. Get an anonymous email account
The first thing to do to browse OnlyFans anonymously is to create a disposable or anonymous email from an IP address other than yours.
- ProtonMail, for example, is an email hosting service that does not require any personal information upon registration, so your identity will not be compromised in the event of a breach.
- The most important thing is to use an alias when signing up for ProtonMail. Do not use your personal name or any other identifying information anywhere.
- Creating an address like “petitjeannot.fabien@protonmail.com” would hardly make me anonymous.
2. Create your anonymous OnlyFans account
After creating this anonymous email, you can read this guide on sign up for OnlyFans.
You need to decide whether you want to create an account as a content creator or a regular user.
➞ Register as an OnlyFans creator
- For creators, OnlyFans asks for detailed information like your legal name and bank details.
- Additionally, you will need to provide additional documents to verify your identity.
- This is a photo of your government-issued ID (passport, driver’s license, or ID card) and a photo of you holding the same document.
OnlyFans needs this information for tax purposes and to legally pay you. There is no way around this.
In other words, if you are a creator on OnlyFans, OnlyFans will always know who you are. However, this does not mean that your followers or fellow creators need to know your real identity.
You can make your profile as personal or as anonymous as you want.
➞ Warning
Avoid registering on OnlyFans by linking your Twitter account, otherwise your Twitter account information will be known to OnlyFans.
Read Also: How to Promote OnlyFans on Twitter
➞ Register anonymously as a regular user
As a paying customer, a ProtonMail account will be enough to hide your identity from other users, but even then, OnlyFans will ask you for a credit card to allow you to browse the platform.
Your payment information will be visible to Stripe , their third-party payment processor.
In other words, complete anonymity from OnlyFans and its partners is not possible , but you can protect your account from other users and the public.
The only solution would be to constantly protect yourself behind a VPN to hide your IP address and encrypt your connection, and pay for OnlyFans using bitcoins (see payment methods below).
3. Set up anonymous usernames and strong passwords
Whether you’re a creator or a fan, if you want to remain anonymous, make sure your login credentials can’t be traced back to you.
Do not use your own name or date of birth, for example, but a disposable login ID. Also, it is always important to secure your account by using a strong password.
This means it should be difficult to guess and different from those on other platforms you use. You can find more tips in our guide on creating strong passwords .
If you prefer to use a password manager to generate, store, and retrieve your unique passwords for you, we recommend NordPass .
4. Set up two-factor authentication
Once you have an account, you’ll want to take extra security measures to ensure no unauthorized users can access it.
Whatever you do on the site, make sure to enable two-factor authentication . Here’s how to do it:
- Go to Settings while logged into your OnlyFans account.
- Choose Account, then click Two-step verification .
- Set up two-factor authentication by logging in through your authenticator app or SMS.
- To enable two-step verification, you will need to provide a phone number
- a Microsoft account
- or a Google account
This means you increase the security of your account, but you decrease the level of privacy you have on the platform. After all, you are associating personally identifiable information with your account: your phone number or one of your internet accounts.
➞ If you really want to stay anonymous, you can buy a prepaid SIM card that you will use as a disposable phone number
This card can cost as little as €3 or €4, and you can use it on an older phone as an extra layer of security, without compromising your privacy.
5. Change other privacy settings
If you’re a content creator on OnlyFans, there are several other steps you can take to protect your privacy. These include making sure you:
- Do not display your active status.
- Hide the amount of your tips.
- Make your friends list private.
- Hide your media count unless you want to use it as a competitive advantage on the platform.
6. Make conscious choices about the content you post
As a content creator, you’ll likely share photos and videos of yourself on the platform.
Believe it or not, you can actually remain anonymous while doing this, as long as you are careful about the media content you post. For example, you can:
- Make sure your face is not visible in any photos to protect your identity.
- Arrange your background so that no identifiable elements are visible, such as skyscrapers, landscapes, or unique road signs.
- Use filters and makeup to change the appearance of your facial features.
Is OnlyFans safe to use?
OnlyFans consumers and creators aren’t completely safe. There are several risks that are important to be aware of when you create an OnlyFans account, whether you use it to post or purchase content.
The risks aren’t as harmless as you might think. In some cases, OnlyFans subscriptions can even lead to difficulty getting a mortgage later on.
This is an attractive platform for many people, but it can also pose risks. Let’s take a closer look at what these risks are and how to avoid them.
Privacy Risks
OnlyFans and sex in general are often considered taboo.
Even though many people think that this shouldn’t be the case, the reality is that being an OnlyFans affiliate could harm your reputation in certain circles. For this reason, many people wouldn’t want the fact that they use OnlyFans to be known to the world.
➞ It is difficult for OnlyFans creators to remain completely anonymous on the platform.
To get paid as a creator, you have to share some personal information with the platform. This information is then out of your control in the event of a breach.
Additionally, some people go out of their way to expose sexual encounters on the platform.
This can be a problem for regular users and consumers. You don’t need a hack or security breach for your identity to be compromised.
Any personal data you include in your account can be used against you:
- whether it’s a photo of your face
- of your name
- or your location
In addition :
- your bank statements
- your internet browsing history
- or installed apps may reveal your activities to your friends and family
Each of these scenarios can result in damage to your reputation. This can have disastrous consequences, for example, when you are a public figure whose followers disapprove of OnlyFans.
Being on OnlyFans can also be the “grounding” for abuse and discrimination in the workplace.
OnlyFans Account Hacking
There are numerous reports from paying customers complaining about account hacks.
- A Reddit user said his email and password were changed and his credit card was used for fraudulent purposes.
- Even worse, creators can even be victims of extortion as a result of a hack. While this type of hack is not common with OnlyFans and its cybersecurity measures, it is still a risk.
Most of the violations we’ve documented, and many of the company’s shadiest business decisions, typically affect content producers more than their paying fans.
When these types of issues repeat themselves, it shows that a platform may not be secure.
Security and Privacy Violations
In 2023, 1.4 terabytes of OnlyFans content was leaked onto a cloud storage platform, making much of this exclusive content public.
In times of security breaches and leaks , a company’s position matters a lot.
After a breach, most companies apologize and make a plan to avoid such breaches in the future. This shows the platform’s users that security is a major concern and that the company is willing to keep its users safe.
Unfortunately, that’s not what happened in the case of OnlyFans.
The company released a statement saying that no breach had occurred and that the content leak was the result of individual users stealing content from behind the paywall and posting it online.
This is unlikely to be true, given the enormous amount of data leaked: 1.4 terabytes of leaked data can hardly be from individual users.
➞ Even if OnlyFans is telling the truth and there was no actual violation, this is problematic.
Let’s say this is a coordinated effort by users stealing content from behind a paywall and then making it public. This would show that the OnlyFans paywall is vulnerable and that people can take other avenues to access exclusive content from OnlyFans performers.
This makes all the issues we mentioned earlier regarding doxing and outing users even more worrying.
Are payments private on OnlyFans?
It’s impossible to remain completely anonymous using OnlyFans because you’ll have to share some payment information with the platform. It’s a double-edged sword.
- This is a good thing, because it creates a fair market for artists and users.
- On the other hand, this can be a bad thing for people who want to keep their activity on the platform secret.
OnlyFans uses secure third-party payment processors like Stripe or SecurionPay , so the company itself does not have access to your payment data if you are a regular user.
However, payment processors still have this data, and they can be subpoenaed, so you are not 100% anonymous.
As an OnlyFans content consumer, you can only pay for your subscriptions by credit card
Anonymous payment via Bitcoin , for example, is not possible. Any purchase will appear on your account.
How do OnlyFans transactions appear on bank statements?
Payments to your bank account won’t be very discreet either.
In fact, they make it very clear that the payment was made to OnlyFans , as you can see in the image below.
In short, it is impossible to hide your activity on the platform once you choose to get a paid subscription from a creator.
If you’re worried about this, you can always choose to follow people anonymously and only access free content posted by your favorite creators. This means there won’t be too many OnlyFans mentions of your bank details.
However, even then, you will need to authorize a credit card in advance. This will result in a $0.10 transfer, which will be refunded to you later. It will still appear on a statement.
Payments are not only a problem for users who want to remain anonymous on the site
They are also a problem for OnlyFans.
Payment processors don’t like platforms that are backed by pornographic content. That’s why OnlyFans nearly banned such content in 2021, only to negotiate its return to the sex industry right after.
The Shady Owners of OnlyFans
Leonid Radvinsky is a Ukrainian-American pornography entrepreneur with a history of prosecutions and numerous allegations of theft and fraud.
He is also the majority owner of OnlyFans, among many other similar platforms that focus heavily on pornographic content.
But that’s not all.
- First of all, most of his lawsuits and legal troubles (as well as some expensive out-of-court settlements) date back to the early 2000s. Radvinsky has not had any legal troubles lately.
- Second, OnlyFans has many safety features in place to protect both fans and content producers, so we can’t automatically assume that OnlyFans is a “bad” platform just because of its owner’s past actions.
That being said, it’s not like Radvinsky’s business is exactly clean. It discusses the OnlyFans creator’s history and documents some of the company’s more recent issues. These recent issues include cases of:
- Data leaks that no one takes responsibility for.
- Platform removal without reason.
- Freezing payments without clear communication with affected creators.
All of this means that OnlyFans is not completely safe for creators.
How does OnlyFans protect its users and creators?
There is little factual evidence that shows that OnlyFans is a dangerous platform. However, there are some technical and social risks that people are exposed to when using the platform.
- Average users run the risk of endangering their privacy, but above all, of being criticized by their peers.
- Content creators may face harassment and doxing, or even fraudulent charges to the payment method they provided.
Many creators and users don’t come to OnlyFans as a social media account. For artists, it can even be the job that pays the bills.
- If this is the case, you can mitigate a lot of the security risks by browsing OnlyFans anonymously,
- by choosing the right privacy settings
- and generally staying safe on the web
OnlyFans Security Measures
OnlyFans has not publicly clarified its encryption methods and other security measures.
We know they use HTTPS protocols (like any respectable website) but beyond that they are not very clear on how they protect their users.
OnlyFans ensures that:
- Content you share privately is watermarked and cannot be screenshotted.
- You have the ability to block users by country and IP, allowing you to avoid potential visitors from your own country or residence and block individual users if they bother you.
- The information available on your public profile is editable.
- You can contact customer service for additional assistance in maintaining the privacy of your account. They can guide you through processes like two-step authentication or help you cancel a payment if your card has been stolen.
- Similarly, there are a few articles online with tips and tricks to help users stay safe on OnlyFans, such as this one on Medium .