Bella Thorne has apologized to OnlyFans creators after her success on the website sparked a backlash from sex workers.
The 22-year-old Disney actor signed up to the platform on August 19 and broke records by raking in $1 million in her first 24 hours and $2 million in less than a week. She was charging fans $200 to see photos of her wearing lingerie.
Sex workers accused Thorne of a "scam" and lying to her fans over the nature of her photos. They claim she was charging them $200 to view a supposed "nude" photo.
On Friday, OnlyFans changed its payment policy, preventing members from charging more than $50 for photos and increasing payment waiting times from seven to 30 days.
Some creators, including sex workers, blamed the changes on Thorne's success criticizing her for "gentrifying" the erotic content site and calling on her to redistribute the money she earned.
Thorne issued a lengthy apology on Twitter on Saturday night and told her followers that she will be meeting with OnlyFans to discuss the latest changes, calling them "f***ed up."
"I wanted to bring attention to the site, the more people on the site the more likely of a chance to normalize the stigmas," Thorne tweeted. "Again in this process, I hurt you and for that, I'm truly sorry," she added.
—BITCHIMBELLATHORNE (@bellathorne) August 29, 2020
Thorne said she would meet with OnlyFans to discuss the reasons behind the new restrictions and asked people to send her any of their concerns or questions.
On Friday, a viral tweet alleged that OnlyFans had only changed its rules after people started requesting refunds from the actor.
"OnlyFans won't allow us to charge over $50 for [pay per view] OR get tipped over $100," the post read. "And this morning we were all told that instead of waiting seven days for our payouts, we have to wait 30. The theory is that [OnlyFans] can't afford to pay her [Thorne] her cut so now our funds are being tied up."
A spokesperson for OnlyFans said the policy changes were not linked to Thorne's success and said the transaction limits were "to help prevent overspending and to allow our users to continue to use the site safely," according to the Independent.
"We value all of the feedback received since this change was implemented and we will continue to review these limits," they added.
Thorne is among a growing number of celebrities who have joined OnlyFans since the beginning of quarantine, including YouTube star Tana Mongeau, and rapper Cardi B.
The erotic content site, founded in 2016, has been drawing in followers in the years since. In May, CEO Tim Stokely told BuzzFeed News that the website was "seeing about 200,000 new users every 24 hours and 7,000 to 8,000 new creators joining every day."
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