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First of two components
One scorching summer time day in 2023, Anna* was in search of a web-based job that would give her some additional money to spend for her final two years of faculty. Just some months later, she discovered herself modifying one-minute porn reels and photoshopping the genitalia of feminine fashions in between lessons.
It was an surprising, however not completely unwelcome, improvement for her. When she was first employed as a digital assistant, she would edit graphics, pictures, and meals reels — duties that had been par for the course for the PR and advertising company she initially utilized for.
“After which my boss was like, ‘I’ve one other [job] for you, however I don’t know if it’s inside your consolation [zone],” Anna narrated to Rappler.
If she took the job, her pay of round P300 to P400 per picture or video would then rise to between P500 to P3,000. The catch? These edits could be for OnlyFans, an adults-only platform the place creators publish specific movies and work together with paying subscribers.
It got here as a shock to her at first. However for a school pupil simply in search of money, the selection was easy.
“So long as it’s good pay, why not, proper?” Anna instructed her boss.
Her duties began out comparatively tame. She was requested to sew collectively suggestive skits mentioning completely different kinks and soiled jokes. She additionally “beautified” pictures of scantily clad fashions by eradicating any undesirable hair, hyperpigmentation, or imperfections of their physique dimensions.
However as months handed, her assignments turned increasingly more lewd. Photographs and movies she edited started exhibiting her purchasers fully bare. Her photoshopping began to increase to their non-public components, the place she erased pubic hair and blemishes. The suggestive skits become full-on porn reels the place her purchasers both masturbated or “went all the way in which” with a male co-star — or a number of male co-stars.
At one level, Anna was modifying pictures and movies for as many as 9 completely different fashions. However her efforts fairly actually paid off, as her month-to-month earnings averaged from P45,000 to P50,000 monthly. In keeping with her, all this earnings was tax-free, save for some switch charges as a result of her firm was primarily based in Europe.
Anna is just one half of a bigger, surprisingly profitable manufacturing cycle — one which makes use of offshore Filipino labor to create, excellent, and promote specific content material on-line on behalf of overseas OnlyFans fashions. This cycle is facilitated by a third-party OnlyFans administration company that helps creators on the platform produce content material and handle their account in alternate for a minimize of their earnings.
Anna recollects her firm managing about 20 fashions, with every one having a group of at the least 18 individuals from completely different departments — scriptwriters, manufacturing, finance, and human assets — dealing with all of the duties wanted to supply the fashions’ content material after which promoting them to paying purchasers.
Promoting intercourse by way of impersonation
That is the place Kara, a 26-year-old so-called “chatter,” is available in. Her group, normally composed of 5 individuals, serves as customer support on this operation. In her company — which is domestically primarily based and which additionally manages round 20 fashions — one group of chatters is assigned to at least one mannequin every.
What do these chatters do? They fake to be the fashions by way of chat, ensuring that their subscribers are engaged sufficient to maintain coming again for extra — or higher but, are satisfied to purchase their unique content material.
Kara took the job early in 2025. Again then, she was a graduate of data know-how with a full-time job as a digital assistant, however she nonetheless wanted to leap from one on-line aspect gig to a different to maintain her way of life.
“I simply wanted the cash,” she instructed Rappler.
When she discovered an ambiguous posting on a web-based job board that didn’t require prior work expertise, she determined that it was price attempting out. In spite of everything, she was not in a state of affairs to move up on a job alternative.
She came upon that the job was to be an OnlyFans chatter solely when a affirmation electronic mail was despatched again to her.
The hourly charge was $2, or just a little over P100, however she was instructed that she might get a 5% fee charge for each bit of unique content material she efficiently offered. In keeping with her, some movies might price as a lot as $750, or over P44,000, to unlock the platform’s paywall. For that quantity, she might obtain her 5% fee of over P2,200 per content material offered.
At first, this gave the impression of a great deal. However she quickly realized that sexually entertaining an limitless stream of strangers whereas posing as another person was extra demanding than she anticipated.
Chatting work begins by constructing rapport with the shopper. It progresses to slowly teasing with various kinds of content material, ranging from the suggestive after which constructing as much as the extra lewd — and dearer — items.
To maintain the dialog flowing, Kara stated that the chatters are supplied with templated messages that they need to observe, relying on the shopper’s calls for. However the process nonetheless proved daunting for her.
“I’m simply not used to promoting intercourse stuff,” Kara admitted. Her teammates, additionally Filipinos, had been making content material gross sales that she wasn’t. After only a few weeks, the strain made Kara resolve to stroll away from the job to seek out one thing with higher pay and one thing extra appropriate for her.
Effectively-oiled machine hidden in plain sight
The companies providing these jobs could seem extremely elusive, however they’re really widespread data to anybody immersed on the planet of OnlyFans — particularly in Western international locations. Experiences from media shops primarily based there match the small print Anna and Kara shared with Rappler.
A Reuters investigation examined greater than 160 companies managing a few of OnlyFans’ most worthwhile creators. Apparently, they began popping up throughout the coronavirus pandemic, the place lockdowns pushed lonely males into additional isolation and employees into aspect hustles that would assist them by way of financial pressure.
A few of these companies had been stated to cost a flat payment, whereas others took a fee of 20% to 80% of a mannequin’s whole earnings. The scheme is just like those Anna and Kara described in their very own companies, in addition to the companies reported on by the New York Instances and Enterprise Insider.
A supervisor for one prime company lined by Enterprise Insider additionally had an expertise just like that of Anna and Kara. She utilized for the job believing it was for a advertising company however ended up taking over chatter duties in alternate for a 2% fee, though she had the next month-to-month pay of greater than $1,000 or virtually P60,000.
However past insider testimonies and lawsuits, it’s troublesome to get a learn on how intensive this underground business is because of a shortage of strong, publicly accessible information. A fast Google seek for an “OnlyFans administration company” will flip up about 40,000 hits, with only some of them providing any dependable or goal info. A lot of the hits are companies’ web sites that promise to exponentially develop fashions’ accounts and income by way of a group of so-called “consultants.” Others are imprecise sponsored weblog articles itemizing the guidelines, tips, and advantages to beginning and becoming a member of an OnlyFans company.
To energy this lengthy listing of companies and maintain the revenue margins of companies excessive, it is smart to take care of an meeting line of low-cost, distant employees at every step. That is the place the Filipino workforce — no stranger to offering offshore labor for decrease costs — is available in.
Engaging the Filipino employee
Anna and Kara discovered their jobs by way of onlinejobs.ph, a web-based job platform broadly utilized by Filipino freelancers, although the postings aren’t what was vaguely marketed on the web site.
In keeping with an ongoing US lawsuit filed by purchasers complaining concerning the foolery of this business, the Philippines is a hiring scorching spot for these companies for the “comparatively well-educated, English-speaking employees.” In addition they cited within the criticism Filipino chatters who’re paid a tiny fraction of what these abilities would pay within the US.
LinkedIn information revealed that one of many defendants, Verge Company, a expertise company positioned in Los Angeles, has most of its employees primarily based within the Philippines.
If one goes job looking on Fb and Reddit, these OnlyFans-related job postings are fairly the recent factor — and the job descriptions are explicitly acknowledged. A lot of the posts from these social media platforms additionally got here from Filipino accounts asking concerning the work, in addition to these giving recommendation on how to achieve it.
Judging by what number of customers work together with every of their job postings, these jobs are apparently in demand. One Fb group referred to as “OnlyFans VA’s & Chatters from Philippines” even has as many as 61,000 members.
Some customers publish testimonials there, boasting about month-to-month salaries of P50,000 or extra and narrating particulars that match up with what Anna and Kara instructed Rappler. Others promote scripts and on-line programs to assist struggling chatters like Kara make a sale.
In keeping with sociologist Ash Presto, who has co-written a coverage paper on the state of freelancing within the nation with lawyer Ross Tugade in 2023, “There’s lots of curiosity from completely different individuals to work within the business. There’s additionally lots of discuss [OnlyFans gigs], and job postings are very publicly posted.”
For individuals who are attempting to make ends meet, the discomfort with sexual content material might really feel like a small worth to pay in alternate for a great wage and versatile working situations. Plus, there are testimonies on-line the place individuals discovered success in this type of work.
“There are individuals who say that they really benefit from the cash; they benefit from the job, particularly for ladies who’re very open to doing sex-adjacent work. And I’ve additionally seen a touch upon Reddit that stated, ‘This particular person does sexting frequently, so now at the least she will get paid for it,’” Presto instructed Rappler.
IBON Basis’s evaluation in June 2025 of the labor pressure figures discovered that the nation’s economic system is “chronically failing” to soak up a rising workforce, leaving extra Filipinos with fewer choices in a “deteriorating jobs market.”
However in an business that’s now popping out of the shadows, something can occur. Who protects workers like Anna and Kara, when their worth as employees is measured by how properly their video games of fake can idiot their paying viewers? (To be concluded) – with stories from Princess Leah Sagaad/Rappler.com
Anna and Kara’s names have been modified at their request. Quotes have been translated to English for brevity. Conversion charge as of January 26, 2026 is $1 = P59.043.
NEXT: Half 2 | No safety: Shady OnlyFans companies put Filipino employees in danger
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