MP says women are being coerced into setting up OnlyFans accounts by partners
26 March 2025, 15:54
East Thanet Labour MP Polly Billington says reports by charity Oasis show ‘coercion and exploitation’.
Young women are being pressured into setting up OnlyFans accounts to raise money, an MP has said.
Polly Billington said a domestic abuse charity in her East Thanet constituency had raised concerns after incidents which showed “coercion and exploitation”.
Speaking at science and technology questions, the Labour MP said: “The domestic abuse charity Oasis in my constituency has alerted me to the appalling situation that young women are being coerced to set up their own OnlyFans to generate income.
“Can the Secretary of State outline what steps he is doing to ensure this sector can root out coercion and exploitation.”
In February, a Daily Mirror investigation found more than 1,500 crimes linked to OnlyFans had been reported to 38 police forces in the UK in the last five years.
It included women being forced to engage in sex work on the platform as well as claims of revenge porn.
Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said: “She is a champion for these issues and Oasis the charity, a great charity, is lucky to have her voicing their work and the need to make these radical changes to keep people safe online, here in the House of Commons.
“I can assure her the situation she has described breaches several aspects of law in this country, including the need to take out illegal content.
“I’ll be watching closely, as she will, and working with her to make sure that these new powers and the powers that are coming online are effective, and how we adapt to these changes into the future.”
It came as MPs complained about the quality of mobile phone signal across the UK.
Conservative MP for The Wrekin Mark Pritchard said his Shropshire constituency had too many areas where there was no coverage at all, and asked if more companies could run networks.
Mr Pritchard said: “Can I encourage him to visit Shropshire where there are still too many not spots, and perhaps one of the reasons is this country only has four mobile network operators. Isn’t it time we had more competition?”
Technology minister Chris Bryant said: “Frankly the connectivity that people think that they’re getting from Ofcom simply isn’t what they’re actually getting.
“Their phone looks as if it’s got lots of bars, and it’s saying 4G, but actually they can’t even park their car and download the app to be able to do that.
“We’ve got to transform that across the whole of the UK. In the end most of that is down to industry and I want to make sure that we remove some of the barriers to further investment that there are in industry to make sure that we improve mobile connectivity for every single member of the House.”
Mr Bryant joked he was not sure whether himself, or the former chancellor Jeremy Hunt, was to blame when the Godalming and Ash MP complained about the provision in his Surrey constituency.
Speaking minutes before the beginning of Prime Minister’s Questions, Conservative MP Mr Hunt said: “The minister can see that the whole House has filled up out of concern at the atrocious mobile phone signal in Godalming and Cranleigh high streets, and Bramley, Shamley Green and Peaslake.
“So now spring is in the air, will he visit Cranleigh to see for himself just what a problem this is?”
Mr Bryant said: “I was in Pizza Express in Godalming only a couple of weeks ago, and the mobile signal was absolutely shocking. I couldn’t find my way to Busbridge village hall.
“I’m not sure whether the MP’s rubbish or the telecoms minister.”
