Raunchy joke or a move to encourage conversation?
Unrest over plan for ‘provocative photos platform’ to help students earn cash
A university magazine is considering launching an OnlyFans account for ‘‘horny students’’ to make cash by sharing their explicit photos and videos.
OnlyFans is a global social media phenomenon that allows people to upload naked and provocative posts and make money from fan subscriptions.
Canta magazine – which is funded by the University of Canterbury Students’ Association (UCSA) but is independent of the University of Canterbury (UC) – is contemplating a communal page to host student content and splitting the profits with them 80/20.
Canta managing editor Liam Donnelly said the proposal was not a publicity stunt, and the magazine was now canvassing students’ views.
As well as earning cash for ‘‘horny students’’, he hoped the platform would help smash taboos around bodies and sex.
‘‘Student media has a really important role to encourage these conversations,’’ he said.
Unlike other social media sites, OnlyFans allows sexual content, its terms of service stating users must not ‘‘post any content depicting any person under 18 years old’’ and must have written documentation to confirm ‘‘all subjects are 18 years old or older’’.
Founded in 1894, the UCSA is a notfor-profit organisation with charity status. It employs 165 people, including Donnelly, who is on a full-time, one-year contract.
UCSA president Kim Fowler said as far as she knew, the OnlyFans idea was a joke to promote Canta following a recent relaunch.
‘‘Canta is editorially independent, however the UCSA does not support the formation of an OnlyFans as an appropriate media platform for a student magazine.’’
Donnelly, who completed a political science degree and postgraduate journalism course at UC, hoped to have a decision next week.
‘‘I think a lot of students will have the same perspective on it as myself, but then there will be those who don’t, and I respect their opinion completely.
‘‘I would be more shocked if it didn’t raise some eyebrows. We are well aware it will be controversial in some circles.’’
For young people who had grown up in the world of social media, there was less stigma about posting images online, even if they were sexually provocative, he said.
‘‘OnlyFans has really expanded in popularity . . . We would just post people’s content, whatever they chose to give us, even if it ended up being a video of juggling seductively. We would encourage our users to do whatever the hell makes them feel comfortable. It could go as far as blatant intercourse on camera, it’s entirely up to them.’’
He accepted there may be some ‘‘moral questions’’ about Canta profiting from students’ posts.
‘‘If we make no profit from it, so be it.’’ Canta had always tried to be ‘‘very sex positive and body positive’’ and the OnlyFans account could benefit students by promoting discussions about sexuality and body image, he said.
‘‘As a young, gay teenager I had no sex education whatsoever.
‘‘Sex and those sorts of things need to be in the social conversation a lot more.’’
A UC spokesperson said it understood the proposal was a ‘‘joke’’.
Martin Cocker, chief executive of online safety organisation Netsafe, said OnlyFans was a fairly new platform in New Zealand and was ‘‘not well understood’’.
‘‘It’s essentially a product of the gig economy, so cuts out the middle people, so you can produce content and sell it directly to followers,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s most well known for the fact that people use it to create and sell adult content.’’
Although it is an international platform, Kiwis who use the site are still subject to New Zealand laws, he said.
‘‘It doesn’t matter if you are putting content on a platform based in New Zealand or America, in terms of our personal responsibilities.’’
He said if a student magazine did have an account that hosted R18 content, it could attract younger viewers.
‘‘There isn’t an age verification system on the internet that works reliably 100 per cent of the time.’’