LONDON — Two men have been convicted in separate UK criminal cases that exposed the misuse of OnlyFans to post explicit material without women’s full consent. One man uploaded intimate images and videos of a woman and made money from them, while another was found guilty after a court heard he had coerced a victim into opening an account to generate income for him.
The cases have added to warnings from domestic abuse charities about a growing form of tech-facilitated abuse. Campaigners say some women are being pressured, manipulated or deceived into creating sexual content for subscription platforms, often by abusive partners who then control the account and the profits.
In both prosecutions, the courts heard that the women were left distressed, humiliated and unable to stop the material spreading once it had been uploaded and shared online.
Man jailed with suspended sentence after selling intimate images in Northumbria case
Alexander Tang, 37, pleaded guilty to voyeurism after taking 47 intimate images and four videos of a woman without her consent and uploading them to OnlyFans. He was paid for the material he posted, with the money going directly into his bank account.
The victim only discovered what had happened after several men contacted her, believing they had been speaking to her on social media and dating apps. She had not known that profiles had been created using her images, including naked photographs taken without her permission.
When she found the material had also been uploaded to OnlyFans, she contacted Northumbria police. Investigators later confirmed Tang had been selling the non-consensual content and had used a photograph of her ID to make the account appear legitimate.
The company later removed the images during a routine moderation check. Tang was given a 26-week suspended prison sentence on Wednesday.
Bolton court hears of coercion, isolation and abuse in OnlyFans rape trial
Dean Holmes, 43, was heard in Bolton crown court to have isolated a woman from her family and friends while pressuring her to open an OnlyFans account so he could make money from it. Prosecutor Mark Kellet told the jury that Holmes pushed her into creating the account and then used his phone to run it.
The woman initially posted bikini photographs, but the court heard that Holmes demanded far more explicit content. He set the account up in her name and handled text conversations with men who were paying for access.
Holmes admitted assault and controlling and coercive behaviour at the start of the trial but denied rape. He was found guilty of rape on Thursday after a four-day hearing. He is due to be sentenced on 25 September.
The victim later told him she felt ashamed after the images were circulated and said she could not show her face or return to work because people had seen her online.
Charities warn of a wider pattern of abusive account abuse and online exploitation
Women’s Aid said in its 2026 annual report that one of the most common new forms of tech-facilitated abuse its frontline teams were seeing involved young women being coerced to set up OnlyFans accounts to generate income for abusive partners. The charity said that pattern was appearing in cases handled by staff supporting survivors.
The Revenge Porn Helpline has also received reports from women who say they were forced into creating content for OnlyFans and similar platforms. Refuge, the UK’s largest domestic abuse charity, said its staff had helped survivors in cases involving the weaponisation of OnlyFans by perpetrators.
OnlyFans said it has a zero-tolerance policy for illegal content and uses onboarding checks, payment controls and account moderation to reduce abuse. It said it works with law enforcement to help investigations and secure convictions.
Emma Pickering, who leads Refuge’s tech-facilitated abuse and economic empowerment team, has said robust monitoring of consent checks is essential if survivors are to be properly protected from harm.
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