All language subtitles for Nudes4sale

This programme contains
some scenes of a sexual nature
and some strong language.

The sex industry is changing.

People are becoming online
entrepreneurs by selling nudes.

So, maybe you turn around and give
her a little twerk. I'm going to...

Or do you want me to just twerk
my bum... Yeah. Perfect. Yeah.

The appeal is simple.

It's fast, it's easy...

I've taken a picture in my seat
before. Topless.

On a flight?

Yeah.

SHE CHUCKLES

..and the money you can earn is
huge.

So, how much money were you making
at that point?

At that point, I was making, like,
15,000 to 20,000 a month.

Can you think of any other jobs
in this area where you could earn

anything near that? Definitely not,
nowadays. 100%.

Unless you're a drug dealer.

SHE CHUCKLES

But is it exploiting young girls'
desire to earn money fast,

leading them into a job in porn?

How many messages have I had?

They want to see stuff, like,
me and him.

It's basically porn, isn't it?
OFF-SCREEN: Well, yeah.

And how old were you?

16.

Welcome to OnlyFans.

OnlyFans is a social media platform
similar to those you use already,

but your content is hidden until
your fans subscribe to you

for a monthly subscription price
that you set.

I want to meet the women
shaking up the sex industry.

23-year-old Lauren from
Northamptonshire is on her way

to being one of the top earners
in the world when it comes

to selling nudes.

Keep that. Very nice.

Widen your knees for me, and take
your hands through your hair.

Push it up a little bit now. Yeah.

18 months ago, Lauren quit her
9-5 job in an office,

and now this is her life.

That's nice. Perfect.

I'd be so useless at this.

SHE SMIRKS

I'm really impressed. Really?

Yeah. You make it look
so easy, and so natural.

What kind of photos
get the most likes?

So, like, girl-next-door?

Like, I don't really wear a lot of
make-up, and things like that,

and quite an innocent look is...

It's, like, that's my niche,
I would say.

Head back a bit for me
and lean forward more.

How much money do
you make from this?

So, every month, it goes up,

and I don't have an average,

and I used to make 20,000 a year,

and now I make a lot more
than that every single month.

OK. Those are all, like...

So it's what you would
have earned in one day,

and then what you get paid
every day. Just... That is mad.

You're making $10 every,
like, four minutes.

THEY CHUCKLE

That's bad.

SHE LAUGHS

Lauren's biggest source of income
is from a social media site

called Only Fans.

Her page has over
2,000 subscribers.

She charges each one $15
a month to unlock her page.

That's nearly 35 grand EVERY month,

and puts her in the top
0.06% of their earners.

I mean, you can
make so much money.

How many of them would you kind of
chat to on a daily, weekly basis?

Oh, my God.

So many. It's like...

It never, ever stops. Hundreds.

They're always online, because
they're all around the world,

so I have to try.

I think that's a priority
of mine to be different,

and to just reply all the time,

even though it's getting
bigger and bigger.

Every single person that
messages you, you reply to?

Yeah. And is that because
you want to try and keep

those people engaged, and you
want to keep them subscribing?

That's part of the experience -
talking to me.

They're paying to talk to me. So,
just from a standard subscription.

So, I think it's pretty
important to reply to them.

It's fascinating
cos it's, like...

Do you think that...?

Do you think these people
feel like they know you?

Yeah, some of them. Yeah.

Do you ever feel scared?

Yeah, I do,

but I don't publicise where I live.

The only thing that upsets me is
when I have friends that strongly

don't agree to the point of
cutting me out of their life.

You have to be smart. Yeah.

If I spend all this money
now, like obviously I'm aware

this doesn't have longevity.

My biggest fear is going back into
an office and being normal again.

Really? Mm-hm.

And to prevent that happening,
Lauren has to be strategic.

She keeps it relatively
censored on her main feed.

It's in her private messages
where she sells her more explicit,

and most lucrative content.

Yeah, can I get a water, please?

What colour are you going for?
Maybe, like, a red.

OFF-SCREEN: What do you usually
wear? Me? Yeah.

I don't know. I'm really
bad at making decisions.

I get a bit overwhelmed.

NARRATOR: With her growing success,

Lauren's career choice hasn't
gone unnoticed in her hometown.

Thank you. OK.

Were you quite surprised when
Lauren came with a film crew?

No.

THEY LAUGH

That's so funny.

SHE CHUCKLES

What do you guys think of it?

I think I used to come in here
upset and tell them about it.

Have you seen a change in her?

What was she like when
she was in her old job?

I mean, to be fair, when you're
getting your nails done

two times a week,
like two times a month.

SHE CHUCKLES

I think that the bad thing about
this job that usually you shouldn't

tell people what you're earning,
but doing OnlyFans

makes you so insecure that
everyone is judging you,

and they're, like, "What the fuck
are you doing with your life?"

So, you can just turn around,
and be, like,

"Do you know what I'm earning?"

"Stop. You have no idea."

Like, people don't know, and then
when they do know, they're like...

It is insane.
"Oh, wow." Like, "Oh."

And then maybe
they don't want to do it,

but they get it and they
understand why you do it.

I thought I was going to find
this quite seedy, and I thought

I was going to find it a bit sad.

It's kind of like...

You know when people say,

"How much would someone
have to pay you to do this?

"How much would someone have to
pay you to do that?" It's, like,

"How much would someone
have to pay you to strip

"and put it on Instagram? And...

..it turns out my price
is what Lauren's earning,

so I'm setting up OnlyFans.

SHE CHUCKLES

More and more people
are catching on,

But unlike its
Silicon Valley rivals -

Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter -

OnlyFans is British, born-and-bred.

The brains behind OnlyFans is
Essex entrepreneur Tim Stokely.

He created the site in 2016.

A quick look at his Instagram
account shows a guy

living an influencer's dream,

and OnlyFans reflects
this aspirational image.

It's a platform that brings adult
work into the social media age.

Interestingly, he's pretty elusive
when it comes to giving interviews,

or talking about his business.

OFF-SCREEN:
I'm here with Tim Stokely.

Tim, how are you, by the way?

I'm really well, thanks.
It's a pleasure to be here.

But that hasn't hurt OnlyFans.

The company has over
17.5 million users worldwide.

Oh! Good girl.

24-year-old Beth is another
young woman who's clocked on

to the OnlyFans phenomenon.

She's not as established as Lauren,
but still earns

a healthy three grand a month

just from selling naked content.

Is this your dressing room?
Yeah. It's amazing.

I want one of these.

BETH CHUCKLES

I'll show you the bra drawer.

ELLIE CHUCKLES

Oh, my God.

I've genuinely never seen this many
bras in one place. Ever.

This drawer is like
the OnlyFans drawer.

Oh, OK.

So, this is the drawer with,
like, all the stockings in

and stuff that I'd wear.

Living in the northwest of England,

Beth has had over 20 jobs
since leaving school.

If you were to get
a job around here,

would it primarily be retail, or...

Yeah. ..customer service? Like,
working in a pub, or something.

Yeah. I assume that's all quite
low paid, or minimum wage jobs.

Yeah. They're crap. Yeah.

OK. Outside of the adult industry,

can you think of any other jobs,

in this area, where you could
earn anything near that?

No, not in this area.

Unless you're chief executive,
or something, in a company,

or you own a really good,
like, well-run business.

Definitely none around here. 100%.

Unless you were a drug dealer.

SHE LAUGHS
They probably make the same money.

Is that literally it? Like,
OnlyFans, or drug dealing? Yeah.

THEY LAUGH

Beth hoped glamour modelling and
Page 3 appearances

would be her ticket
to financial independence.

That one's yours. Oh, thank you.
Perfect.

I think it was just the whole
point of being able to say,

"Oh, I've been in Page 3",

cos not many people
can say that, can they?

And it is a nice thing to,
like, say you've done.

When you were 18 and you
wanted to be a Page 3 model,

what were your expectations
of what that earning would be?

Like, a grand a day.

Mm. It used to be better.

Did used to be good,

cos they used to do all the
lads' mags, and Nuts magazine,

and it was good pay at one point,
but it's kind of all died

out now, the glamour stuff.

Do you know what the
top, top creators earn? No.

I think it's about
45 grand a month.

Shut up. Just from OnlyFans.

Piss off. 45 grand?!
45 grand a month.

And apparently...

Shut up. ..apparently it's
going up every month. Shut up.

Oh, what's her name?

THEY LAUGH

Beth's boyfriend, Paul,
shoots most of her content.

Bum.

SHE CHUCKLES

What do you enjoy about it, Paul?

Erm...

It's more, I'll see her...

I like how she likes it.

So, you don't like a half-naked
girlfriend in front of you?

SHE LAUGHS
Well, yeah. I mean... Course I do.

Anybody would, you know?

ELLIE CHUCKLES

Would you do it with her, Paul?

No.

BETH GIGGLES

Why not? No.

ELLIE CHUCKLES

How many messages have I had? They
want to see stuff, like me and him.

It's basically porn.
Isn't it? Oh, yeah.

They want to see, erm...

They're offering money
for us to do that.

Erm, like give blow jobs, and...

SHE GIGGLES

Erm, like, sex, that...
They've asked loads.

Haven't they? Yeah.

But I've always said, "No."

Would you ever consider it, Paul?

No. I don't think
I would to be honest. No.

And Beth's rising profile means
she regularly gets messages

about how to start out.

If anyone comes to me,
I'll tell them how it is.

And I will, I'll tell them exactly.

Like, if girls at 18, 19
want to go into modelling,

and do all these high
levels, I'll be, like,

"No, you don't. You don't want
to do that." Like, "You're young.

"You've got so many
more years ahead of you.

"If you start doing that now,

"in two, three years, no-one's
going to want to see you any more

"because they've seen it all."

What's the youngest girl
that's messaged you,

saying she wants to get into it?

15. 15?! Mmmm.

Wow. When was that?

Not long ago.

Probably about four...four, five
month ago.

On Instagram, that was.
What did you say?

No.

SHE SMIRKS

I was, like, "What do you want
to do? 'I want to be a model.'"

I said, "Yeah, that's fine. You can
be a model for doing fashion stuff."

And she's stunning, as well.
She's beautiful.

She's like, "No, I want to
do glamour", I was, like,

"You're 15 years old."

At that age, I wanted to do it,

but, obviously I knew, in my head
that I had to...

I was well too young to be doing
that,

and obviously I didn't
want to do it at that age,

but I knew what I wanted in life.
Mm-hm.

So, whether you're a blogger,
YouTuber, fitness trainer,

celebrity, model, or musician,

you can reward your loyal fans

with even more of the great
content you already produce,

and get paid for it.

Beth and Lauren's earnings are
at the very top-end of OnlyFans,

and neither say they do
anything too graphic or sexual,

but there's a whole
other side to this world.

I've searched #OnlyFans on Twitter,

and I've not come across
anything that's not porn yet.

There's so many videos.

Just like porn.

I'm just looking at OnlyFans
there's a guy just

wanking on a train...

..on his OnlyFans account.

I can't be looking at this
in public. This is so bad.

SHE GIGGLES

Might stick this back on. Hang on.
What is that?

This is a privacy screen.
I'm just going to pop it on.

That is definitely not legal.

NARRATING: What I can't help
thinking about now is the girl

Beth told me about who was 15.

Many OnlyFans creators use
Twitter to drive traffic

towards their profiles

and, pretty quickly, I'm starting
to notice a trend in hashtags.

I mean, this... I'm just looking
at this now, this girl is...

I don't know how old she is,
but it says,

"Happy I'm literally almost to 5K."

So I think she's almost
got 5,000 followers.

"So here's a gift", and
it's her taking her top off,

and the hashtags -

#teen,

#hugetits,

#chubbyteen.

She looks about...17 maybe.

I'm just looking at, like... There's
so many accounts where I just think,

"These girls look so, so young."

Like, SO young.

The law is pretty clear.

You have to be 18 or over
to distribute or sell explicit

and sexual content.

So, if any of these accounts
are under 18,

it would make them illegal,

and technically guilty of
a child sexual offence,

even if they're the ones
taking the photos.

All these profiles
are claiming to be 18+.

So, I wanted to see if there
was anyway to test that.

So, I've been given access to some
age-scanning software

that's meant to be pretty accurate
in guessing how old someone is.

So, I'm going to use it to see

if I can work out some of the ages

of profiles I found on OnlyFans.

This software may
not be 100% accurate.

It does say that it's more
accurate the younger you are,

because you're more
likely to have been affected

by external factors, like sun damage
or pollution, the older you get.

OK. 18.

This one says 20.

That surprises me, I think she
looks so much younger than 20.

OK. This girl, I think,
looks really young.

This is saying 17.

OK, it's saying that
this girl is 17, as well.

Oh, my God, this one says 14.

That's terrifying.

She looks so young.

Even for the girls
who genuinely are 18,

it just makes you wonder
when they started doing this.

In order to try and
find some of these girls,

I'm heading to the British
Library here in London.

I've come here because they have
birth records for England and Wales,

which I'm going to look
through to try and verify

some of the ages of profiles
I found on OnlyFans.

There's one profile, in particular,
I found that looks young.

The age-scanning software
put her at 17,

and she's very
active on social media.

She's advertising nudes,

but I'm not sure if she's
still using her OnlyFans.

I've actually come across
some tweets calling her out

for being underage, and they've
given me a bit more information.

She's from Scotland and, checking
the birth register there,

it says she's 17.

After messaging backwards and
forwards, she agrees to meet me.

We're calling her "Hannah"
but it's not her real name.

She's getting ready for a
night out with a friend.

Hello!
Hi, I'm Ellie. Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you, too.

Have you always
been really into make-up?

Yeah.

As soon as I got into high school,
even before that, I was wearing it.

What, in primary school? Yeah.
You wear wigs, and stuff,

so do you like to play
around with your appearance?

Yeah, I like to look
different all the time.

I change my hair every day.
It's different every day.

Every day?! Every day.

This is my...

..platinum. Oh, that's amazing.
Yeah, it's really nice.

I love that.

When she was most
actively selling nudes,

Hannah had a huge
following across social media.

So, how much money were
you making at that point?

At that point, I was making
like 15,000 to 20,000 a month.

And how old were you?

16. Really?

Yeah.

How did you feel when
you first started earning

that amount of money?

Shook. Like, I think it was
cos it was always my dream,

I was, like, "Oh, I want to be
quite big, I want to be successful,

"I want to make money."

I wanted to, like... Designer
stuff was, like, a big thing for me.

So, are you still at school now?

No. Hate it. You hate it?

Yeah. I hate school. Why?

I used to just get a lot of hate,
like, I was getting, like,

really, like, bullied, and stuff.

So, when it was like 13, 14,

I wasn't, like, sticking
up for myself and that.

I got, like, pushed out of school.

I couldn't go to classes.

How often do you come to London?

Erm, well, recently, I've been
coming, like, every month.

Oh, right. That's loads.

And I go to... Or it'll
be Birmingham, as well.

Oh, OK.
I was in Liverpool a lot last year.

Like, I basically lived there, so...

That does some very young
to be up and down the country.

I don't know. I was really
mature at that age, as well.

Like, really mature.
I just knew what I was doing.

I was really safe
about it, and stuff.

I was gaining followers, then.

I don't know, I was just...

I was, like, to my mum, "I'm just,
like, I'm not going to school."

"it's not happening."

How old were you when you
started gaining followers?

15.

15? Yeah. 14 turning 15.

So, do you think those people didn't

realise that you were
underage at the time?

No, a lot of them did, because a lot
of them knew me, like, personally.

So, a lot of them were, like,
actually 15, 16, 17, 18.

That kind of age group.

A lot of my buyers are that age
group just cos it's my fan base.

Ready to go now?

Yeah. Yeah?

I'm just going to
get dressed, though.

I'm going to get something else
changed into cos this isn't

doing it for me.

SHE SMIRKS

What, the outfit's not doing
it for you? Definitely not.

SHE CHUCKLES

OK.

So, am I right in thinking
OnlyFans asks for ID?

Yeah.
How did you get around that?

I just used my friend's.
Do you look like your friend's?

No. Nothing? Nothing.

Do you ever wish you'd
started a little bit later?

A little bit. A little bit.

But now I'm, like,
I'm not really bothered.

I just think, like...

..the way that I act
for my age, it's fine.

When do you think you
would have started, ideally?

Obviously 18,

but I think everything just went
so fast for me in high school,

college, and that, so I was,
like, I've started young

to progress it to get really big.

NARRATING: Hannah tried selling
her nudes on a number of different

OnlyFans accounts. They were
suspended when reported,

but she repeatedly
got around the checks.

So, I'm going to try and
set up an OnlyFans account

posing as a teenager.

So, I asked my cousin, who's 17,

if he could sign up using
his older brother's ID.

24 hours later, got
an e-mail saying,

"You've been accepted
for an account."

And...they look quite similar,

so I'm maybe not so surprised
they'd get away with it.

But I am surprised that they
didn't ask for any bank details

before confirming it,

and that it happened
quite so quickly.

So, in order to get paid,

you need to put in
your card details.

So, what I want to check
is whether those card details

need to match the name on
the ID that you sign up with.

So, now I'm going to put my
17-year-old cousin's bank details in

and see whether he could be paid.

Done.

So, what this tells me is that...

..if you look enough like
someone else's ID...

..it's easy to sign up to
OnlyFans when you're 17.

NARRATING: It makes me question -

how many underage users
are there on OnlyFans?

OnlyFans' usership is exploding.

The business has now paid
out more than $400 million

to over 150,000 creators worldwide.

But in a competitive market,
making your content go viral

is vital.

Many creators team up.

I'm heading back to
Northamptonshire to see Lauren.

She's invited me to see her making
content with a friend

who's recently joined OnlyFans.

It's mad that she's, like, 22,
and I assume owns...

..this ridiculous...

SHE CHUCKLES

..house.

OFF-SCREEN: Why is it ridiculous?

Just, like... I don't know.
This is like the kind of place that

you live when you're married,
and you've got four kids.

SHE CHUCKLES

Hey. Hi. How are you?

Nice to see you again. I'm good.

Hi, you must be Annie. I'm Ellie.
Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.

How long have you been here?

Erm, nearly a year.

It's so nice.

Yes. So, how long have you
been doing this for, Annie?

Er, since, probably,
the end of July...

Oh, OK, so quite recent.
..I started doing it.

Very recent. Very recent.

So, it's all very
new to me right now.

That's good.
How did you get into it?

Erm. It was random.
I'd never heard about it before.

I just started doing some
photoshoots with a friend,

just... Literally, just for fun.

It was, like, "Yeah,
why not? Give it a go."

I mean, I don't live far.
So, I reached out to Lauren.

Social media, obviously, Instagram.

I thought it'd be nice because
I didn't know anyone else that was

doing it, and it's just nice to have
that support, and then, obviously,

a friendship's blossomed from it.
So, it's really nice.

I think, "So far, so good",
and it's already, month-by-month,

it's getting ridiculously,
like, better. Mm.

So, I think... I just
want Annie to quit her job

so we can spend every day just, like
chilling, getting our hair done,

working, and just having fun. So,
you're still working in another job?

At the minute. Yeah.

What's that?

Er, it's just a waitress job.
OK. Yeah. So is that...?

That's your goal, then, for Annie
to be able to quit her job?

I think it's what she wants...
Whatever she wants to do,

I'm not going to push her.

ANNIE GIGGLES

But it would be very nice because...

..you're free, and there's not
that many people around in the day.

SHE LAUGHS

I was going to say, I imagine
don't have loads of friends

who are around during the day.

No, but I do fill my time.

Are you messaging people from
OnlyFans now, Lauren?

Yeah.
What are you messaging?

Because I write people's names
on my boobs sometimes.

Is that something that people
can pay for in, erm...?

Yeah. It's $30...

Oh, yeah. ..and I just make a
little video with their name on me.

So, what would you
usually do together?

I mean, to be honest, I normally
make content alone,

but, if I make content with
somebody, erm,

just take a bunch of selfies

and then make a video.
Oh, OK.

But everyone does different things.

Annie and I made a video
recently where we kissed.

SHE CHUCKLES

Yeah? Yeah.
How did that go down?

Erm, I think it made
about two grand. Really?

Mm. Do you think you'll
do that again today?

No. Because we've already done it.
Don't need to do it again.

So do something else.
But, then, a lot of my friends

aren't really up for doing that.
SHE CHUCKLES

So, is Annie more up for it,
more up for it than your other

friends are? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Some of my other friends that do it,

they're just a bit, like, "Mmmmm."

My fans kind of... They love it,
and it's cool, and it's great,

but I have to keep my page
predominantly me,

if that makes sense.

It's my page.
Just like her page is her page.

So, maybe you turn around
and give her a little twerk.

Right, I'm going to figure it out,

because I'm going to have
to proper get at this angle.

How weird does it get, then, some of
the things you get asked for?

I wouldn't... "When I
drink - you'll piss."

Yeah. It gets so strange.

SHE GIGGLES

Someone's actually asked you that?!

Yeah. People ask, like, you
to join their relationships

or, yeah, like weird things.

Would you do this if it
wasn't big money in it?

No. Really?

SHE LAUGHS

There's been so many, like,
horrendous downsides,

and horrendous judgment, and...

It's been, mentally, a lot,

and the only thing
that makes it OK is,

obviously, the
happiness it brings me

but money is freedom,

and I'm free.

And, like, if it wasn't for that,

then I think I would not do it.

Have you ever been offered a huge
amount of money

for something you didn't want to do?

Yeah. What?

Probably, like,
"Will you sleep with me?"

"I'll give you...

"..five grand", and
you're just, like...

"No. Bye."

I understand why Lauren
would say, "No," to that.

She has a huge financial safety net,

and neither she, nor Annie,

say they'd do what they'd
considered to be porn.

The wrong way.

Just move backwards.

I just don't want to block you out.

You won't. No?

But I know the other
side of OnlyFans

is full of explicit content.

How different is that world?

Because, like, the amount of guys
I have from my high school

who have subscribed to it... Really?
..is crazy, and I'm just, like...

I'm meeting 20-year-old Sasha.

She's been doing
OnlyFans for a year

while working part-time in a shop.

Her content's far more explicit
than anyone I'd yet encountered.

What kind of requests do
you get from your fans?

I do most things.

I'm just not really into
anything that involves, like,

extreme bodily fluids.

Erm, so a lot people will
request videos of you, like,

going to the toilet, and
that's something that, you know,

I've spoken to customers about it,
but I've never followed through.

What do you think?

SASHA LAUGHS

I don't know how to,
like, initiate it.

That feels a bit
risky, doesn't it?

It's fine. Let's do it.
Do you think?

Right, ready to take a photo? OK.

One of her fans has requested
a naked photo in a graveyard.

Sasha's here because she wants to
make more money through extra tips

from her paying subscribers.

So you just put that
onto your OnlyFans now?

And, erm... Yeah,
I'll just be, like,

"Having some fun in the graveyard."

Ooh! So, you know, make
it sound more interesting

than it actually was. Yeah.

And then that'll get you tips?
Is that how it works?

Yeah, exactly. So, I'll be, like,

"Tip me if you want to, like,
know exactly what happened."

What made you decide to get
into this line of work?

I grew up in, like, a very
strict Christian household,

and I had so many bad experiences
with guys, and I just was

being rebellious, like,
typical, rebellious teenage girl.

I just wanted to kind of put
two fingers up to my parents

and be, like, "I can do what I want.
I'm an adult now,"

and I just think I had
this attitude that...

..I was below men.

It's something that I've always had,
like, in the back of my mind

that I'd be good at this because,
from a young age, you know,

I'd be sending like Snapchats
to boys and that kind of stuff.

But I must've been about 15,

and I sent it to this guy thinking,

"He's popular, maybe he'll see it
and suddenly fall in love with me,"

or something stupid and it
ended up getting spread around

the whole school, and
I kept doing it thinking

that I was getting this
validation from these guys.

There's almost a bit of vengeance
there in getting men to pay.

Yeah, it's kind of like a big,
"Fuck you", to them, to all the guys

that have hurt me in the past who,
you know, I have them messaging me

now like, "Oh, if you ever break up
with your boyfriend - come back."

So, in a way, did that
first photo getting leaked...?

Did that lead you to send more?

Yes, I think it was kind of
my way of trying to fight back

and being like,
"Well, it's my photos.

"You don't have control over them",

and I think that really showed
how young and naive I was like.

What's the situation
with your parents now?

Erm, so, unfortunately,
they've kicked me out.

So, I'm... They're just aren't
ready to deal with the way I lead,

like, lead my life.

And have you got someone to go?

Not at the moment.

I'm getting help from the council.

Is there a danger...

..in OnlyFans being so
accessible when you're that age?

Yeah, 100%.

Because I definitely think
when you're young and you start

having your first sexual
experiences and it's like,

"Oh, I can make money for sending
pictures to random strangers."

Like, "How fun."

What might be the impact, do you
think, on the 13, 14-year-old girl,

looking at girls
who are doing OnlyFans

who are looking glamorous,

and feeling empowered,
and making lots of money?

I'm not going to put up a
photo of me having a crap day

on my OnlyFans, or me crying in my
pyjamas, because what's that...?

That's not going to get me anything.

So, they're only
seeing the good things.

It's a difficult time
in Sasha's life

as she's still trying to
find somewhere to live.

She needs emergency accommodation
from the council.

MOBILE RINGS

Oh, is that...?

It's the council again.
Oh, yeah.

Do you want to answer? Yeah.

Hello?

Yes.

OK.

OK.

Bye.

Oh, dear. What's happened?

I'm not considered a priority.

Erm, and I can, like, appeal it.

But, like, that's just
going to take longer.

I'm so sorry. It's OK.
I'll be fine. I'm so sorry.

How much money are you making,
at the moment, from OnlyFans?

It's a very slow
month at the moment.

So, I'm making like an extra...

..£100 to £200 a week,

which, obviously, sounds like
a lot to some people,

but when you're going to have
to start spending that

on finding somewhere to sleep,

and food, and transport...

..I'm needing to definitely
get some content out,

and get some extra money.

How easy do you think is
the progression from Snapchat

to OnlyFans, into something
like escorting, or prostitution?

Pretty easy.

It's kind like a rabbit hole.

You can just go further and further,
and further,

because something that could have
started out as quite innocent fun,

it can turn sour quite quickly.

Starting out today,

Sasha was...

..an empowered,
young woman who was

reclaiming her sexuality,

who was really confident,

had gained a lot from Only Fans,

and who was making a decent
income for a 20-year-old,

who was living with her parents.

And all of a sudden...

..that flipped.

And it was really quite powerful
to see how quickly

OnlyFans can go

from something fun and empowering...

..and...

..enjoyable...

..into a really stressful
way to earn a living.

This journey that Sasha's
on began in high school

when that first picture leaked.

The same age as some of the girls
I've seen that are using

these platforms, too.

After what feels like
weeks of searching,

I've managed to find three other
British OnlyFans profiles

which, from birth certificates,
look like they belong to someone

under the age of 18.

As well as Hannah,

I reached out to all these
suspected underage girls.

Only one replied to my message.

But after a couple of texts,
I never heard from her again.

Other people have noticed the same
trend as me on social media.

Young-looking girls
selling nudes online.

But it's hard to know

if they've done the same
level of research as me.

Even though Hannah's OnlyFans
career is currently on hold,

her Snapchat content
is in high demand.

She uses something called
Snapchat Premium.

It's an unofficial way of earning
money from your Snapchat account

using other apps like
PayPal to receive money.

Can you describe what you
do on Snapchat Premium?

So, obviously the normal -

boobs and twerking's a...

..like, a big...
That's like a big thing for me.

Mostly when it comes to toys and
that, more explicit, bath shows,

and that, they'll pay extra for.

So, that's how I get
my money, et cetera,

like, longer videos and stuff.

I actually started off
of lingerie and stuff.

Like, for quite a while, actually,

I started off with just
teasing videos, I guess.

Not actually fully nudes cos

I wasn't, like,
comfortable with that yet.

Then I went to, like, fully nude,
et cetera. It just depends.

People do porn, obviously, on there,

and that makes a
lot more, obviously.

So, is it the more explicit stuff
people do, the more money they make?

More money you'll make,
or more you'll charge, yeah.

So, for you, when you started,

was it quite a quick snowball into,

from lingerie into
doing other things?

Yeah. I was, like, "Oh, wow,
this is easier than I thought."

And do people ask you for...?

Will they offer you money
for more explicit content?

Yeah, I'm, like, it
just depends what it is.

Sometimes I'm, like, "Oh, no."
SHE SMIRKS

It's, like, some stuff
I'm, like,

"Oh, I don't care how much you
offer, I'm not doing that."

What kind of stuff?

A lot of stuff with anal, and stuff.
I'm like, "No. Not for me."

Do you get a lot of
girls that message you

saying they want to get on it?

Yeah, a lot. A lot of people I know,
and a lot of people I don't know.

And how many do you think
have messaged you in total

asking for advice on how to do it?

Hundreds. Hundreds?

Underage girls. Hundreds?

Yeah.

Have you ever had any problems
with the police, or...?

Yeah, I've had a couple.

Erm, more, like, last year when
I was a bit younger, like 16,

people reporting.

And honestly, I've
talked to social...

I think it was more kind of,
like, they weren't that bothered.

Like, they were more,
like, "Are you safe?

"Are you doing meets?"

And, so, did the police
just drop it, then?

Yeah, they dropped it.

They just pop in now every few
months, like, "Are you OK?"

You know, "I'm not doing
prostitution and selling myself.

"I keep myself safe."

I think that's where
they're worried about.

And, even though you
feel very grown up,

and mature for your age,

what about other 17-year-olds
who might want to do it

but aren't quite as grown up as you?

Yeah, that's why...

I don't know what to say
about that one. It's just...

Yeah, a lot of people
are like that, but...

..I can't really help
them do anything about it.

I don't think they're the type
of people who will do it anyway.

They're the ones who...that
are in school, and stuff.

They're not really...

You never really see people
do my job at that age. Ever.

What's the youngest that
you've ever heard of someone

doing Snapchat Premium?

It was 14. 14? Yeah.

So, is it Premium that
more younger people do?

Yeah, because it's easy
to get onto it, or access.

It's just, you can just do it,
like, "Do you want to buy?"

Just get a few followers,
and that's that.

I think if one of my friends

had started selling
naked photos for money...

..I don't know if there'd have
been an alarm bell that said,

"This is child porn - it's illegal",

but there'd have been an
alarm bell that was, like...

How long?

And there are hundreds
of girls messaging her,

saying they want to do it and...

..it's difficult because, like,

I don't want to sound like
some old woman who is...

..way out of touch with
16-year-olds, but also,

I don't sit here and say,
that, "Yeah, cool."

Like, "That's so
cool when you're 16."

Like, "Totally crack on -
do the OnlyFans."

But this isn't just
about OnlyFans now.

Billions of Snapchats are sent
every day - mainly by teenagers -

and, from our research, Hannah isn't
the only one selling nudes on there.

Two of the other suspected underage
OnlyFans accounts we found

were doing the same thing.

Lloyd Richardson
is in charge of

a world-leading team
based in Canada.

The Canadian Centre for
Child Protection has created

Project Arachnid.

Virtual crawlers
that scour the Internet

to find and remove images
of child sexual abuse.

Their work is focused on finding
and removing illegal online images

of children under 18.

So, what laws are there that prevent
a service provider

from hosting child
sexual abuse imagery?

There's no legal requirement,
that I'm aware of,

anywhere in the world, for people
to actually scan proactively

for this material, which
I think is a huge gap.

They would be required to remove
it when someone tells them

that it exists on their service.

So, you're relying on the users
on that platform to either,

A - report it to
authorities to get it removed,

or B - the provider itself doing
some sort of proactive measures

to detect that material
on their systems.

And our film has been specifically
looking quite a lot at OnlyFans,

and is that something
you've come across

during your line of work at all?

So, what I can tell you is
that we've...definitely seen

references to OnlyFans
on the forums that Arachnid scrapes,

erm, definitely references to
underage folks being available

on OnlyFans links to
profiles and what have you.

So, we certainly know that
the offending community

is talking about it,

and what I can tell you is that
services like this

almost certainly have child sexual
abuse material on them.

It's just... It's not a question
of if, it's a question of when,

especially when you're dealing
with scale of contents.

During my investigation,

the platform that's
produced the most leads,

and is the biggest window
into this world, is Twitter.

This is the main promotion
arena for news for sale.

It's how you advertise your
methods of selling nudes,

whether that be OnlyFans,
Snapchat Premium, or something else.

So, we commissioned a
bespoke piece of research

using the age verification
technology I've already been using.

Nice to meet you. How you doing?

NARRATING: It's designed
by a company called Yoti.

So, Ellie, what we've done
is we've basically got

about 20,000 Twitter accounts,
and we've basically been...

Looked and seen how many actual
images can we detect. So, faces.

And that was about 7,500.

And then on the 7,500 images,
we've basically said

what the estimated age is
in column A,

and how many out of those 7,500
were in each age year.

So, you looked on Twitter
for hashtags like #nudesforsale,

#buymynudes and, in one day,

you've found 2,500 accounts

of people that appear
to be under the age of 18.

Correct.
God, that's astonishing.

I can't believe how
high the percentage is.

It will be shocking to quite a lot
of people because they just won't

presume that that's the type
of thing that's going on.

I mean, I'm shocked by it.

I had no idea about any
of this until I started looking

into this documentary,

and even now, I've been working
on this for six months or so,

and the numbers have shocked me.

I knew this was happening,

but I had no idea

that it was this big.

I'm genuinely shocked.

It is... I think that's the
other thing, as well, like,

we sort of lost sight of this
because we're, like, thinking...

I think that's the other thing.

We've met, like, one grown-up,
17-year-old who the police,

and social services, and
her mum's given the OK to.

But, all 2,500 of
them can't be Hannahs.

And that actually is
quite sad to think about.

We've got in touch
with each big company

we've come across making this film.

In response to our findings,

here's what Twitter
and Snapchat have to say...

Snapchat said...

We do not scan the
contents of private accounts,

but we continue to look for ways
to find and remove these accounts,

including discussions with...

We aggressively fight
online child sexual abuse.

Regarding our documentary,
they said...

Once notified,

Twitter immediately requested
details of the accounts concerned,

which have not been provided...

OnlyFans have given
us a statement, too.

We constantly review our systems

to ensure they are as robust as
possible to ensure that...

..we will always take immediate
steps to investigate and...

When we were alerted in August 2019

to an allegation
that an individual was...

..we took proactive,
swift measures to...

She actively conspired with a number
of adult accomplices. They all...

We would like to stress
that we have since significantly

changed and upgraded our age
and identity verification process.

In May 2019, we introduced
an extra safeguard,

which was not required by law,

into our account verification
process, so that...

Porn is, and always has
been, a form of escapism.

The girls I've met are all
selling some form of fantasy.

For their customers,
though, it's fulfilling.

They get bespoke
personalised content,

but for the girls -
it's simply business.

This whole movement
has the potential to be a positive,

empowering force, particularly
for women who want to work

in the adult industry

but, while ordinary teenagers
are seeing its appeal,

and the Internet
remains so unregulated,

it could be a recipe for disaster.