Fansly, a popular platform where independent creators—many of whom are making adult content—sell access to images and videos to subscribers and fans, announced sweeping changes to its terms of service on Monday, including effectively banning furries.
The changes blame payment processors for classifying “some anthropomorphic content as simulated bestiality.” Most people in the furry fandom condemn bestiality and anything resembling it, but payment processors—which have increasingly dictated strict rules for adult sexual content for years—seemingly don’t know the difference and are making it creators’ problem.
The changes include new policies that ban chatbots or image generators that respond to user prompts, content featuring alcohol, cannabis or “other intoxicating substances,” and selling access to Snapchat content or other social media platforms if it violates their terms of service.
Under a section called “policy clarifications” in an email announcing the changes, Fansly wrote:
“Anthropomorphic Content - Our payment processing partners classify some anthropomorphic content as simulated bestiality. As a general guideline, Kemonomimi (human-like characters with animal ears/tails) is permitted, but full fursonas, Kemono, and scalie content are prohibited in adult contexts.
Hypnosis/Mind Control - This prohibition includes all synonymous terms (mesmerize, mindfuck, mindcontrol, hypno) regardless of context.
Wrestling Content - Professional, studio-produced adult wrestling is permitted. Amateur or party wrestling content is prohibited as it may be interpreted as non-consensual activity. Even when consensual, content that simulates force, struggle, or non-consent violates our policies.
Public Spaces & Recording Locations - Sexual activity is prohibited in all public spaces. Nudity is prohibited in public spaces where it's not legally permitted. Both nudity and sexual activity are prohibited on third-party private property without owner permission or in any location visible to the public.”
If creators fall into “one of these impacted niches,” Fansly wrote in the email, they’ll need to review and remove any content that’s against the updated terms of service by June 28. “We'll conduct reviews after June 28th to ensure platform-wide compliance,” the platform said.
Furries that use fursuits in content are popular on Fansly, as are Vtubers—people who use a virtual avatar, often controlled by motion tracking software—that use furry or anthropomorphic cosplay.
“I will have to spend a few hundred dollars as a Vtuber to go and completely REPLACE my model,” Amity, a Vtuber creator on Fansly, told me. She’ll have to remove all her existing furry content, too.
“Fansly is my main source of income. It is how I support myself,” Amity said. “And this screws me and several other content creators over in a bad way. Fansly has been a safe haven for furries and people that aren’t allowed to use Onlyfans or other such sites. Accepting us with open arms, until now...”
“The majority of the blame for this change lies with the payment processors and I wish we had one that didn’t try to police adult content like current processors do,” TyTyVR, another Fansly creator, told me. “However, I cannot help but feel like we’ve been betrayed by Fansly. They would rather drop their creators than let go of the payment processors that are dictating what can and can’t be posted.”
In 2021, OnlyFans announced that it would ban “sexually-explicit conduct” from the site, citing payment processor pressure. It reversed the decision days later, after widespread public backlash. Fansly said at the time that it was receiving “4,000 applications an hour” from creators looking to move to the site in the days after OnlyFans said it was banning sexually-explicit content.
“Thank you, we won't let you down,” Fansly wrote on Twitter.
Last year, Stripe dropped Wishtender, a platform that allows people to make wishlists and send gifts anonymously.
And in September 2024, Patreon made changes to its content guidelines that “added nuance under ‘Bestiality’ to clarify the circumstances in which it is permitted for human characters to have sexual interactions with fictional mythological creatures,” clarifying that “sexual interaction between a human and a fictional mythological creature that is more humanistic than animal (i.e. anthropomorphic, bipedal, and/or sapient)” is forbidden but portrayals of sex outside of those guidelines was allowed.
Fansly did not respond to a request for comment.
