Flickr, the photo-sharing service, questions the hosting of sexual content. Much like OnlyFans, it is exploring the possibility of letting its paying users stream NSFW content.
How to make a service like Flickr profitable? This is the question posed by SmugMug, owner of the photo sharing service since 2018. Formerly known for its great generosity (we could host 1 TB of photos for free), Flickr has since been trying to push its users towards its paid offers. Today, only 1,000 photos can be hosted on the platform and, soon, Flickr will limit the number of non-public images that a user can store on their account to 50. Flickr is no longer really a competitor of Google Photos.
Techcrunch is reporting another major change to the terms and conditions of the service, which could bring Flickr into a new line of business. Subscribers to a Flickr Pro plan can now host content that was once prohibited, such as photos of nudity or sex.
Flickr, a destiny for OnlyFans?
This Flickr strategy seems to us to hold water. For several years, we have seen services like OnlyFans or MYM explode, precisely by betting on NSFW content (“not safe for work”). The success of OnlyFans is based on its marketing of paid subscriptions to accounts which, most of the time, offer erotic or pornographic images. The owners of Flickr, by making this first change, clearly open the door to marketing similar offerings. They would be wrong to deprive themselves of it, it is certain that they will be able to make a lot of money in this sector.
In a press release, Flickr proclaims itself a guarantor of freedom of expression and says that it does not wish to judge good or “bad” art. All photographers are now welcome, if they pay. Flickr Pro costs 7.49 euros per month, or 5.49 euros per month if you commit to two years. Once the creators are there, Flickr may consider launching other offers for consumers of this content.