Tim Stokely, founder and CEO of OnlyFans, a subscription-based social media platform, announced that he will be stepping down from his role.
He will be succeeded by marketing executive Amrapali ‘Ami’ Gan, who had joined the company last year.
OnlyFans, founded in 2016, has grown into a multi-billion dollar company with a vast user base in adult creators and sex workers, who use the platform to sell their content and interact with their fans.
Also Read | OnlyFans to ban ‘sexually explicit’ content starting October
Stokely has announced that he will work as an advisor to the company. Speaking of his successor Gan, he told Bloomberg, “We’ve worked side-by-side sharing our passion about the creator economy. Our priority is to continue being committed to being the safest social media platform in the world.”
In a press release, he said, “Ami has a deep passion for OnlyFans’ business and I’m passing the baton to a friend and colleague who has the vision and drive to help the organisation reach its tremendous potential.”
Also Read | OnlyFans rolls back decision to ban sexually explicit content
OnlyFans had become popular as an adult content website over the years. The company said that the site has nearly 180 million registered users who have subscribed to over two million content creators.
Lately, however, the site has been struggling to recruit investors due to its sexual content and pressure and ‘discrimination’ from financial institutions. As a result, it had announced it would ban sexually explicit content, saying, “In order to ensure the long-term sustainability of the platform, and to continue to host an inclusive community of creators and fans, we must evolve our content guidelines.”
However, the decision was reversed less than a week later, owing to the tremendous backlash it received from sex workers, whose sharing of nudes and sexually explicit content had catapulted the company to fame.
The decision to ban, and then reverse the ban, caused the company to lose a considerable number of patrons, subscribers, and creators.
Before OnlyFans, Stokely had founded two other platforms for adult content creators: GlamGirls and Customs4U.