The phrase 'to start an OnlyFans' has become part of internet vernacular, indicating someone who charges fans for access to intimate content. Founded in 2016 as a content subscription platform, OnlyFans rose to prominence during the COVID-19 lockdowns. In a social media landscape where user data typically fuels personalized content, a platform with no advertising that continues to grow in users – and profit – is rare.

In the first book-length examination of its kind, Emily van der Nagel explores the phenomenon of OnlyFans and reveals how intimacy makes it such a compelling and popular platform. Adopting a sex-positive perspective, the book centres the experiences of creators and subscribers while situating OnlyFans as a paid, Not Safe For Work platform within a social media ecology that blocks sexual expression. To understand contemporary social media, van der Nagel argues the practices, cultures, and economies of OnlyFans are an essential part of the picture.

This book is a critical examination of OnlyFans for students and scholars of media and communications studies, and anyone interested in adult content on social media.