OnlyFans, despite having over 220M content creators, remains an elusive enigma that appears to accumulate rumours and a wavering reputation over time. We invited its CEO, Keily Blair, to The Trouble Club to set the record straight. Here were our key takeaways!

Keily Blair in conversation with Ellie Newton

KEILY BLAIR WAS ORIGINALLY A LAWYER

Keily Blair’s leap from lawyer to CEO of OnlyFans is a prime example of how a mix of skills can take you to surprising places. She started out mastering data privacy and cyber law, tackling the tricky world of regulations; a skill which turned out to be pure gold when she moved into the tech and entertainment scene. OnlyFans was, in fact, her favourite client before she came aboard to help with the brand’s in-house strategy. Now, as CEO, Blair uses her legal smarts and business sense to navigate the ever-changing digital world, showing that a legal background can be the secret sauce for trailblazing leadership.

ONLYFANS’ SECURITY IS SECOND TO NONE

Try as we might, to find any holes in this company’s security structure, Blair had answers to all of our questions - and good ones at that! Not only do you need to verify your account with a current selfie, it will also ask for recertification should you alter your appearance at all - even colouring your hair! It also takes your bank details, tax details (linking you nice and tightly to the government - which is a big deterrent from unwanted behaviour), and generally works very closely with law enforcement. From the banning of certain words, the absolute rejection of any content that involves in unwanted age or role-play (even teddy bears and plaid skirts are banned), to the lack of encryption on all messaging in the app - you can tell it’s a mother of two who has gone to every length to stop unwanted behaviour on this platform. Even attempting to screenshot performers whose settings are set correctly will only result in a black box. As social platforms go, we’d say this one is up there with the most bulletproof we’ve ever heard of.

IT RUNS TOTALLY DIFFERENTLY THAN MOST SOCIAL PLATFORMS

Sure, OnlyFans doesn’t use algorithms (which is a nice touch to those of us who are frankly sick of the targeted content), but it also doesn’t allow for searched keywords - meaning those intending to, let’s say, look up feet-fetish content simply have to know the exact handle of the content creator they desire to watch. They also don’t track - anything. Not their engagement, nor their users’ engagement with the platform. They don’t track the gender of their users as well as the ratio of NSFW content to SFW content. OnlyFans also doesn’t use advertising, monetise off the time spent on the platform or sell on the data of their users. We told you; this one’s a different breed.

IT’S A MAINLY-FEMALE HQ

This one surprised us too but, having met Keily, we’re surprised that we’re surprised. The handling of the entire platform screams female involvement. This woman-driven environment is instrumental in shaping the platform’s direction, ensuring that it remains a space where empowerment, inclusivity, and forward-thinking thrive. At OnlyFans, women are not just part of the team—they're leading the charge.

ITS CREATORS ARE IN CONTROL

Unlike other adult-content using sites, cough Pornhub cough, all of the content belongs 100% to the creator and can be removed at any time, taken with them and posted to another site if they choose. Nobody signs their soul over to OnlyFans, it is merely a site that makes choice the centre of the mission. It hands control back to content creators, and allows their identity to remain theirs. Did we mention that for every dollar OnlyFans makes, the creator makes 4 and that they’ve paid out almost £15BN to their creators since 2016?

ITS THE FOUNDATION FOR SOME REALLY WHOLESOME STORIES

Keily Blair is very firm on the fact that whatever people do with the money they make is totally up to them - buy some shoes, buy a house, pay off your mortgage. However, she does have some favourite stories…one in particular that she mentions has really stayed with us - “[one female creator] took the money that she made from OnlyFans and bought a lot of housing and now rents it out at below market rate to support families in her local area. She’s pretty incredible”.

Say what you want about the platform, Keily is neither telling you to sign up or not sign up, she simply wants to create the safe and lawful option that keeps financial, physical and emotional control in the hands of the creators. She does it with integrity, soul and passion and she’s absolutely Trouble-approved.

6 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT ONLYFANS