- Some
OnlyFans stars have ghostwriters who respond to private messages that fans pay to send them, industry insiders say. - We spoke with former staffers and former clients of Unruly Agency, a secretive management firm for popular
influencers .
Creating exclusive content for fans is a lucrative revenue stream for many social-media influencers.
OnlyFans, one of the top subscription-content platforms, allows creators to charge their fans for access to specific (and often risqué) photos and videos, or to send them direct messages.
The app surged in popularity during the start of the pandemic as consumers were stuck at home. While creators of many genres have made OnlyFans accounts, it has been particularly popular among creators of sexually explicit content.
But keeping up an OnlyFans account as a creator can be time consuming: The gig often includes answering fans' direct messages to keep customers engaged, and posting fresh content to get new ones.
This dynamic has led to the rise of some OnlyFans-focused management companies. Industry insiders say some of these companies not only help models schedule, market, and create content, but also hire account managers to pretend to be the models — including when sexting fans.
One top firm, Unruly Agency, works with mainstream influencers with millions of Instagram followers, including Tana Mongeau, Daisy Keech, Charly Jordan, Abby Rao, and Netflix's "Too Hot to Handle" star Harry Jowsey.
Insider spoke with three former Unruly staffers and three former clients who said Unruly has a hidden army of "account managers" who spend much of their days ghostwriting responses to messages that fans pay to send some influencers. A November lawsuit by two other former Unruly staffers alleges that fans divulge their "deepest and innermost personal secrets including sexual fantasies and fetishes" thinking they are chatting with the influencers.
In the lawsuit, the two former staffers broke an informal code of silence around the company by saying Unruly required them "to intentionally lie to, dupe, and mislead fans." The two former staffers likened the ghostwriting practice to "fraud."
Unruly said in a statement that the allegations in the November complaint were "broadly stated" and "not supported by any evidence." It said the company was "confident that it will successfully resolve these matters in court, and looks forward to disproving the claims through the legal process." Unruly has not yet filed a legal response to the complaint.
Unruly declined to comment directly on the ghostwriting issue, citing the pending litigation. Rao, Jowsey, Jordan, and Keech did not respond to requests for comment. Mongeau's manager and producing partner, David Weintraub, the CEO of DWE Talent, said, "I don't know about anything like that whatsoever" when asked about ghostwritten messages.
But five people Insider spoke with who had worked with OnlyFans models said they believed the practice of ghostwriting was typical among management companies in the industry at large. And some industry insiders worry it could have negative consequences if widely known.
Adult entertainer Cherie DeVille, who is not managed by Unruly, said ghostwritten OnlyFans messages was a practice that concerned her.
"Now everyone will be like 'Who's really texting me?'" DeVille said. "It's a big scandal that everyone is being managed by these crazy people."
At least one current Unruly client appears to feel similarly.
In late 2020, when Insider asked one prominent Instagram influencer about ghostwritten messages, she admitted she'd had others write messages for her. But she said OnlyFans was making her more money than she had ever seen in her life. She then quickly ended the phone call.