OnlyFans’ CEO, Tim Stokely, stated on Tuesday that he is stepping down from the position he has held since the company’s creation in 2016. Bloomberg reports that he will function as a consultant to the company. OnlyFans marketing executive Amrapali “Ami” Gan will take Stokely’s job.
“We’ve collaborated side by side, sharing our enthusiasm for the creative economy,” Gan said to Bloomberg. “Our top objective is to maintain our position as the world’s safest social media platform.”
In a press release, Stokely said, “Ami has a genuine passion for OnlyFans’ company, and I’m transferring the baton to a friend and colleague who has the vision and determination to help the organization fulfil its tremendous potential.” “As OnlyFans is still a young company, Ami brings a new enthusiasm to the table and symbolizes who we are as a company.”
After launching two previous platforms for adult content artists, GlamGirls and Customs4U, Stokely founded OnlyFans in 2016. Because it allowed adult content makers to sell unique content and engage with fans, OnlyFans quickly evolved to be the multi-billion dollar company it is today. The platform’s popularity is due to the success of sex workers (the site takes 20% of authors’ revenue).
Gan takes over the post at a time when the platform is in flux, and practically every adult website is battling financial institutions for survival. OnlyFans announced in September that it would restrict all explicit content, effectively removing the majority of the content from the site and ripping the rug out from under thousands of adult performers who rely on the platform for a career. Stokely attributed the decision on discrimination by banking companies such as JP Morgan Chase and BNY Melon.
Following outrage from creators, sex worker rights groups, and customers, OnlyFans overturned the decision just days later. According to the firm, the proposal to block explicit content has been “delayed.” Patrons withdrew their subscriptions, models lost money that many are still battling to recover, and artists lost faith in the platform as a reliable source for sex workers.
The “glass cliff” is a well-known occurrence in which corporations promote women and minorities to executive positions in order to save them from bankruptcy. Gan worked as the Vice President of Marketing and Publicity for a LA-based cannabis startup from 2019 to 2020, according to her Linkedin profile—an sector that has traditionally faced some of the same banking and investing restrictions as pornography. OnlyFans declined to comment on Gan’s ambitions for the company because she has not made any public statements regarding her opinion on pornographic content on the network. Gan told Bloomberg that she intends to invest more in the platform’s free streaming programme, OFTV, which does not allow any sexual content because it is available on the Apple App Store, which does not allow adult apps.
