Inside online sex work boom

SA'S NEW HUSTLE: CREATORS CASH IN ON NICHE CONTENT WHILE DODGING TAX SCRUTINY

- Hein Kaiser

The internet has opened up opportunities to tens of thousands of South Africans to parade their bodies for money.

This has created a massive, hidden economy which generates upwards of R3 billion a year... the bulk of it tax-free because it is not declared to the South African Revenue Service (Sars).

And the sleazy side of life is offering an employment lifeline to many, where the jobless rate continues to soar.

At first, digital sex work was an outlier on platforms like Pornhub, the YouTube of adult content.

Over the last few years, platforms like OnlyFans and Fansly have legitimised, almost sanitised adult content.

It's nearing acceptance as a legitimate means of earning a living and, despite stigma, women - and some men - are making substantial bank on earnings.

In South Africa, like the rest of the world, it's a shadow economy that delivers income to people who may not have opportunity otherwise.

"The industry in South Africa is actually massive," said Jaun Esterhuizen of Exotic World, who has been working with online adult creators for more than a decade.

"I personally have a list of more than 10 000 ladies that sell content overseas, along with about 4 000 who market locally, too," he said.

"If you look at the whole market, I estimate that there must be more than 100 000 girls in South Africa across multiple platforms that sell some kind of content on everything from WhatsApp to Telegram for private sales through to OnlyFans.

"Among people I work with there are attorneys, doctors, ad agency professionals and even accountants, who have day jobs and either create content as a hobby, or as a means to supplement their income."