OnlyFans, an online subscription platform best known for is adult content, on Wednesday scrapped its new policy that would have prohibited users from posting any material containing "sexually explicit conduct."
The about-face came in the wake of significant backlash from its users, especially sex workers who sell content on the platform for a subscription fee, CNBC reports.
"We have secured assurances necessary to support our diverse creator community and have suspended the planned October 1 policy change," OnlyFans tweeted Wednesday.
Earlier in the week, the London-based company said the prohibition policy was in compliance with the requests of its banking partners and payment providers.
"An official communication to creators will be emailed shortly," OnlyFans said in a separate tweet. The company was not immediately available for comment.
Many internet commenters predicted that it would doom OnlyFans to the fate of Tumblr, a formerly popular microblogging service.
Tumblr banned "adult" posts in 2018, only to suffer an immediate 30 percent drop in visits, according to internet traffic monitor SimilarWeb. Bought by Yahoo for $1.1 billion in 2013, Tumblr by 2019 was sold for just $3 million.
OnlyRans, which was founded in 2016 and has boomed in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, says it has 130 million users.
This report contains material from Reuters.