OnlyFans star calls for action after Taylor Swift deepfakes: 'Deserve jail time'

In January, deepfake pornographic images of Taylor Swift spread through X (formerly Twitter), with the social media giant so incredibly slow to react to taking down the fake images, that one image had over 47 million views before it was taken down.

The incident was triggering for many women who have been victims of people either creating and sharing deepfake pornography, or leaking explicit content. Though the images of Taylor were eventually (and rightfully) removed, many women who have been victims of revenge porn have to live their lives with private images and videos of them still existing on the greater web.

OnlyFans creator Annie Knight is someone who has also been a victim of people non-consensually sharing images and videos of her, saying it led to her suffering from extreme social anxiety and was also a huge reason why she ended up relocating states and starting afresh.

Speaking to Yahoo Lifestyle about what happened when a group of guys leaked some of her X-rated content, Annie opened up about the impact it had on her life and career.

'I could feel everyone staring'

After Annie sent videos to some boys who had subscribed anonymously, as she does with all her subscribers, the boys then circulated the content, with Annie knowing it was a bunch of private school boys but for the most part, they were then protected by the schools and system.

“I went to the police and they took it very seriously, but unfortunately, due to the private nature of OnlyFans, we were unable to find out who the boys were who leaked the content,” Annie said.

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“At the time I was still was still working as a marketing coordinator, so I was incredibly paranoid that someone would send them to my work,” she continued. “It’s hard to say if it affected my income [on OnlyFans] or not, as I was so new to the platform.

“However I suffered from severe social anxiety after all of this occurred, and every time I went to a social event, I could feel everyone staring, whispering, pointing and judging.”

Annie took a break from OnlyFans after her content was leaked, before jumping back on the platform.

“I realised life is short and I shouldn’t spend it worrying about what other people think of me. People can’t hurt you if you own who you are and what you do. Getting back into OnlyFans after that was the best decision I would have made, and I’m glad I did it,” she said.

Annie relayed that the boys who leaked her content faced no consequences.

“To this day, I still don’t know who it was, but I have my suspicions. Not long after it occurred, I decided to move to the Gold Coast and start fresh, away from the elitist, superficial, private school bubble I always hated being part of.”

As for people who leak content and revenge porn, Annie said it’s time for serious action to be taken.

“I’d like to see [perpetrators] finally held accountable for their actions. I seriously believe they deserve jail time for the emotional distress they cause people,” she said.

“I often think about the fact that this happens to girls and women who are in the sex work industry and how emotionally damaging and exposing it must feel for them,” she continued. “It’s a little easier I think for people in the sex work industry to take back control of the situation. But for someone who has never wanted or consented to having their private images or videos shared around, I would imagine that would cause a lot of suffering and distress.”

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