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I Went Undercover as a Secret OnlyFans Chatter. It Wasn’t Pretty


Your online influencer girlfriend is actually a rotating cast of low-wage workers. I became one of them.

This is the tactic I employed last year when I met an OnlyFans star, a fit cosplayer and Japanophile who has soared into an enviable tax bracket by selling what she terms “exxxtra spicy content.” I made a show of calmly nodding along as she recounted how she’d ditched her plan to become a tech consultant after discovering that droves of admirers will pay $10.99 a month to watch her try on leggings or vigorously bring herself to climax. I analyzed the TV show Suits with a saxophone-playing quality engineer; I let one of my ballers, a math and science teacher, break down his recipe for baked salmon; I queried a New Mexico state trooper, who was chatting with me while on the clock, about the best aspects of his job (“Driving a really cool cop car and shooting guns”). A lead attorney in the lawsuits that revolutionized college sports by making it possible for student-athletes to get paid for name and image rights, Carey argues that the managers who run creators’ accounts are engaging in a type of bait and switch that fits the classic definition of fraud.

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