Twitter was ready to start selling OnlyFans-style porn subscriptions in a bid to boost its revenue — but put the feature on ice earlier this year due to concerns about child porn, according to a new report.
The social media site, which is locked in a court battle with Elon Musk, allows users to post porn but gives them no way to monetize it. Twitter created and considered launching an OnlyFans-like subscription feature that would let porn stars sell nude photos and videos, the Verge reported on Tuesday.
The decision would have been controversial and risked alienating advertisers, but could also have helped Twitter differentiate itself from other social media sites.
In April, Twitter assembled an 84-person “Red Team” to “pressure-test the decision to allow adult creators to monetize on the platform, by specifically focusing on what it would look like for Twitter to do this safely and responsibly,” the Verge reported based on leaked documents and interviews with employees.
The team reportedly found a slate of disturbing holes in Twitter’s plan, including that the site is unable to consistently detect and take down non-consensual and child porn.
“Twitter cannot accurately detect child sexual exploitation and non-consensual nudity at scale,” the Red Team reportedly wrote, adding that Twitter didn’t have the tools to verify that porn performers and consumers were of legal age.
Launching a porn subscription service would make the risks worse, the Red Team reportedly found, because smut sellers would be incentivized to flood the platform and much of the porn would be hidden behind a paywall.
The Red Team also reportedly warned that adding more porn to the site could lead to scrutiny from lawmakers and annoy longtime users.
Following the Red Team’s report, Twitter decided to put the plan on ice until the site could put more health and safety measures in place, according to the Verge.
“It was the ongoing and reflective dialogue on the topic that brought us to the decision to pause the workstream for the right reason and prioritize elsewhere,” a Twitter spokesperson told The Post.
“Twitter has zero-tolerance for child sexual exploitation,” the spokesperson added, noting that the company is continuing to hire staffers focused on safety.