OnlyFans Hit with Class Action Over Automatic Subscription Renewals

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A proposed class action alleges content creation platform OnlyFans has illegally roped consumers into automatically renewing subscriptions. 

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The 52-page lawsuit says that upon signing up for an OnlyFans subscription, a consumer is automatically enrolled into a program that renews their initial purchase on a monthly basis “unless and until” they affirmatively cancel. 

The suit charges that OnlyFans.com operator Fenix Internet LLC has violated California’s Automatic Renewal Law by automatically re-upping consumers’ OnlyFans subscriptions without providing pre- and post-purchase subscription offer terms in a clear and conspicuous manner and in close visual proximity to the OnlyFans sign-up button. Moreover, the case claims the “onerous” OnlyFans cancellation process lacks a one-step “prominently located” cancellation button or link for users or an “immediately accessible” pre-written cancellation email. 

“Instead, the OnlyFans Subscription cancellation process is a multi-step and counter-intuitive procedure that results in additional, unwanted, and unauthorized charges to consumers’ Billing Information by Defendant,” the lawsuit contends. 

The filing says that at no point in the account creation process are consumers required to read or affirmatively agree to OnlyFans’ terms of service, either by reading the disclosure or checking a box before creating their account. To the contrary, the sign-up page utilizes “dark patterns” that distract consumers from the OnlyFans terms of service, the case argues.

According to the lawsuit, OnlyFans’ failure to comply with California’s Automatic Renewal Law has resulted in “exorbitant revenues” for the company, which, as of November 2021, boasted over 187 million users. Per the suit, users spent $4.8 billion on OnlyFans last year alone, generating over $932 million in net revenue for the defendant. 

“Fenix International, as well as its owner Leonid Radvinsky, … obtains these eye-popping revenues through Defendant’s unlawful charging of consumer Billing Information,” the case alleges. 

Broadly, OnlyFans failed to obtain consumers’ affirmative consent before recurringly charging their payment cards, in violation of California law, the suit alleges. As a result of OnlyFans’ failure to satisfy Automatic Renewal Law requirements, all subscriptions provided to consumers under the automatically renewing service are considered “unconditional gifts,” the filing says. 

“Plaintiffs and the Class would not have purchased the OnlyFans Subscription had they been provided with the [Automatic Renewal Law-mandated] pre- and post-purchased disclosures and information,” the suit summarizes.

The case looks to cover the following consumers: 

“All individuals in California who subscribed to any OnlyFans Subscription in the applicable statute of limitations preceding the filing of this complaint, and who were subsequently assessed an automatic renewal fee associated with those accounts(s) [sic]. And all individuals in California who Defendant, without authorization, charged Billing Information additional and unwanted payments as a result of Defendant’s noncompliant OnlyFans Subscription cancellation mechanism.” 

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