Eight House Republicans sent a letter, obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation, to Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky. They asked the cloud service provider for an end to its business relationship with OnlyFans because of the presence on the platform of child pornography.
Reps. Lance Gooden and Blake Moore, Anthony Gonzalez and Randy Weber signed the letter. Ann Wagner, John Carter, Mark Green, Markwayne Mullin and Mark Green all signed the letter. reports of sexually explicit content of minors appearing on OnlyFans, as well as testimony from Homeland Security Investigations agents that between 30-50 instances of child pornography originate on OnlyFans each day.
“OnlyFans has become a hotbed for child exploitation and the structure of the platform prevents law enforcement from sufficiently monitoring the site,” Gooden told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “Amazon Web Services must prioritize the protection of children over profits and immediately terminate its relationship with OnlyFans until adequate safeguards are in place.”
OnlyFans is a subscription site that sells pornographic and lewd content. Republican lawmakers claimed that OnlyFans content is hidden behind paywalls, so child pornography can flourish in the absence of law enforcement access.
The site has a long history of promoting child exploitation and inappropriate sexual content. BBC investigation in May found underage users were easily able toBypass OnlyFans’ age verification system and identified several instances of minors selling sexually explicit content of themselves.
Letter to Amazon Web Servic… by Daily Caller News Foundation
A Florida couple was arrestedIn January, a Boston football coach was accused of selling videos on OnlyFans showing him engaging in sexual acts alongside a 16-year old. chargedA video of him having sex in public with a minor was posted and he is accused of raping the child.
The lawmakers urged Amazon to reevaluate its relationship with OnlyFans, pointing to the ease with which underage users can bypass the site’s age verification system as evidence of negligence.
“OnlyFans and its platform have enabled the direct monetization of illicit sexual activity in a scalable and commercial way,” the lawmakers alleged.
When reached for comment on the lawmakers’ letter, an Amazon Web Services spokesperson told The Daily Caller News Foundation that child pornography violates its Acceptable Use Policy and that it would investigate all instances of sexually exploitative content.
“In every segment of our business, we take our responsibility to fight Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) very seriously,” the spokesperson said. “When we receive reports of prohibited content, we act quickly to investigate and take the appropriate action, including disabling the content if needed.”
Amazon Web Services has stopped providing cloud services to several sites in recent years because of concerns about content, including Islamic State propaganda. site in August. The most controversial thing about the company was its launch of social media platform Parler off its servers over allegations the platform was used to organize the Jan. 6 riots.
“As a market leader and innovator, AWS possesses a higher responsibility to the public and American communities,” the lawmakers wrote. “It is incumbent on you to adopt effective standards to prevent your services from being used for the promotion of criminal activity.”
The bipartisan nature of the letter is reflected in the letter calls from lawmakers in August for the Department of Justice to investigate OnlyFans over the prevalence of child pornography on its platform. OnlyFans announcedIt said it would not allow pornographic content on its platform until late August due to investor pressure, but it eventually did. reversed its decision a week later.
Amazon Web Services did not immediately respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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