The Insidious Rise of OnlyFans
“I know firsthand how devastating online sexual exploitation can be. I experienced its brutality through live-cam websites similar to OnlyFans, all while maintaining a smile that concealed a reality no consumer of my content could have known. The familiar narrative of the ‘college girl paying her way through her degree’ has long been used to normalize and justify the consumption of sexual content and experiences– an excuse to appease the conscience of those consuming it.”
-Melissa O., Safety Compass Survivor Advisory Council Member
Founded in 2016 by Tim Stokely, a British entrepreneur, OnlyFans was created as a creator driven subscription site. Early on, the site was promoted as a platform for creators like musicians, fitness models, and chefs- however it’s important to note that while this may have been how the website was initially marketed, it wasn’t the first website that Tim Stokely had launched. Previous sites launched by Stokely- GlamWorship, a fetish website, and Customs4U, a website where consumers could order custom pornographic content- focused heavily on explicit content made easily accessible to buyers. According to Forbes, “In 2017, one year after he founded the company with his brother and father… there were around $3 million transactions recorded on OnlyFans.”
By October of 2017, Leonoid Ravinsky, who founded and owned the adult webcam streaming platform MyFreeCams since 2006, bought a majority stake in the new up and coming platform, and within a month had assumed full leadership of OnlyFans. Today, it is estimated that the annual gross revenue from the site has risen to exceed $7.2 billion.
Recently, local media outlets posted an article that referenced a report released by a website claiming that Portland, Oregon is the number 1 city in the world for OnlyFans spending. There have been a few of these types of reports released over the past year from websites that seem like they are sharing credible data, but turn out to be search engines promoting creators on OnlyFans. Many of the results that pop up from these search engines direct to creators who are making pornographic content.
These claims and related links published by local media were eventually taken down, however this is not the first example of a respected news outlet picking up a report from one of these sites, and then linking to the search engine site who shared the data.
Addressing the Rise of Sadistic Online Exploitation
Over the past few years, Safety Compass has seen a significant rise in referrals connected to online exploitation. This local trend reflects what has been reported by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which saw a significant increase in reports of online exploitation and child sex trafficking to its CyberTipline1. Alongside types of abuse like sextortion and commercialized child sex abuse material, Safety Compass has also received an increase in referrals tied to sadistic online exploitation (SOE) that is often associated with nihilistic violent extremist networks.
Major Drug Enforcement Operation Identifies Dozens of HT Survivors
uring a three-day operation last week, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office Interagency Task Force (CCITF) and the Oregon State Police (OSP) Drug Enforcement Section worked to disrupt and dismantle a suspected drug trafficking organization linked to several illegal marijuana grows in Clackamas and Marion counties. As victims of human trafficking were identified throughout the operation, CCITF and OSP requested emergency on-scene crisis response and resources from local community based agencies. Service providers included Safety Compass, Anti-Trafficking Project (at:project): A Program of J Bar J, and Cannabis Workers Resilience Partnership (CWRP). These services included crisis intervention & safety planning from victims' advocates and service providers, basic necessities such as food and water, emergency rides to safety, and connection to emergency shelter and housing. Legal services connection was also available. Safety Compass provided confidential advocacy at each location. Through this multi-day operation, at least 57 potential survivors were identified and offered services and continued follow up support.
Safety Compass Responds On-Scene to Unprecedented Number of Human Trafficking Survivors in One Day
Safety Compass Responds On-Scene to Unprecedented Number of Human Trafficking Survivors in One Day
Safety Compass advocates responded to multiple scenes across the Northwest Oregon region, providing in-person crisis intervention to 21 survivors across multiple counties in a single day, 19 of whom were served during one 12-hour overnight period.
Finding the Courage to Collaborate with Unlikely Allies on Behalf of Justice
Human trafficking exists at the intersection of violence, poverty, addiction, exploitation, trauma, commerce, and public safety. No single profession, ideology, or institution can adequately respond to it.
Effective advocacy is learning to stand between worlds, bridging the space between survivors and systems, holding both profound grief and unwavering hope, while continually asking, Who else needs to be involved in the creation of this survivor’s support community, if they are going to make it out of this warzone alive?
That question has shaped the mission of Safety Compass.
Exploitation Often Begins with Trust
Recent arrests connected to an expanding child exploitation investigation involving the late Dr. Michael Wilmington, a pediatrician who worked at Kaiser Permanente in Salmon Creek, and Vancouver residents Anna May Hartley and Chad Hartley, have brought renewed attention to the realities of child sexual abuse, trafficking, and exploitation in our region.
Cases like this force us to confront a difficult truth: trafficking and child sexual exploitation rarely look the way people expect them to. Media coverage, movies, and even public awareness campaigns have historically focused on “stranger danger”, abductions, or dramatic scenarios involving unknown perpetrators. The reality is that exploitation, trafficking, and abuse frequently happens within existing relationships and trusted circles. Those victimized are often harmed by people they know, depend on, or have been taught to trust.
Hope in Motion: Celebrating 10 Years of Safety Compass
For a decade, we’ve walked alongside survivors, trained communities, built partnerships, and worked toward a future free from violence and exploitation. What began as a vision has grown into a movement powered by advocates, supporters, partners, and survivors themselves.
The need for this work remains urgent.
As we celebrate this milestone year, we’re reflecting on the impact we’ve created together and looking ahead to the work still to come.
Six teenage girls identified as being exploited and trafficked on 82nd Ave in Portland
Since Wednesday, April 15th, 2026, Safety Compass has responded on-scene to multiple requests for emergency response and advocacy from Portland Police Bureau’s Human Trafficking Unit. The Portland Police Bureau’s Human Trafficking Unit (HTU) and East Precinct Officers identified six teenage girls, ranging in age from 13 years old to 17 years old, who were being commercially sexually exploited and trafficked along 82nd Avenue.
Safety Compass Leads “Light Up the Night” Outreach on 82nd Avenue to Advance Safety and Support for Vulnerable Community Members
Light Up the Night, an outreach event coordinated by Safety Compass, brought together community partners and first responders yesterday along 82nd Avenue in Multnomah & Clackamas Counties.
A Day to Celebrate: World Day Against Trafficking in Persons
A component of the care we give is safety-planning and empowering individuals to take the steps they deem necessary to get to safety.
When it’s go-time, and they have built up the courage and bravery to safety-plan and leave, we pour all our time, energy and resources into helping the survivor get free. That might entail transportation to safety, coordinating with other agencies, and working with community partners to find housing, food, clothing, toiletries and other essential needs.
Three Things that are Always There: What I’ve learned after 20 years
It seems fitting that I was called out to the emergency room last week to sit with a victim receiving medical care on this milestone. As I was leaving, she hugged me, and I whispered in her ear, “Keep going.” And just like that, Love was there.
COMPASS CONNECTION: The Connection Between Advocates and Survivors
The connection made between the advocate and the person they are called upon to support feels holy.
This is a sacred space.
This space is about hope, that with a little reflection of the divinity each person carries within them, that youth who have been impacted by commercial sexual exploitation will believe in themselves and their worthiness.