From Obscenity to Money Laundering: The OnlyFans Crackdown in Turkey

Recently, Sixteen detained over ‘laundering OnlyFans income’.

I have asked Perplexity to round up the OnlyFans ordeal in Türkiye:

OnlyFans has been formally blocked in Turkey since June 2023 and, since late 2023, authorities have escalated criminal investigations and financial-crime probes targeting creators who earned income from the platform.

Access ban and legal basis

• Access to onlyfans.com was blocked by an İstanbul penal judgeship of peace on 7 June 2023 (decision no. 2023/3975), following complaints to CİMER and a moral‑panic style social media campaign demanding closure of the site.webtekno+2

• The official justification is “obscenity” under Article 226 of the Turkish Penal Code, which criminalizes the production and distribution of “obscene” content via press and media but does not clearly define obscenity or specifically regulate platforms like OnlyFans.bianet+3

• In practice, OnlyFans joins a wider group of adult sites that are not accessible from Turkey without circumvention tools such as VPNs.zoogvpn+1

Criminal cases against creators

• Police and prosecutors have increasingly used Article 226 (and sometimes other morality‑related provisions) against individual creators who used OnlyFans or promoted adult content via other platforms. High‑profile examples include creators such as Gizem Bağdaçiçek (“Gizem Savage”), detained in İstanbul on obscenity charges in December 2023.[bianet]​

• Earlier, creator and influencer Merve Taşkın faced obscenity investigations and house arrest over sexualized Valentine’s Day posts and OnlyFans‑related content; she later left Turkey permanently, explicitly citing fear of ongoing prosecution.turkishminute+1

• These cases illustrate a shift from simply blocking the platform to targeting individuals for the content itself and the way they monetize it.bianet+3

2026 “money laundering” / proceeds‑of‑crime angle

• In February 2026, coordinated police raids across several provinces (İstanbul, Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Balıkesir, Kocaeli, Samsun) detained at least 16–17 people in an investigation that framed OnlyFans earnings as criminal proceeds.babaocagi.com+2

• The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office stated that suspects directed followers from mainstream social media to OnlyFans, sold explicit photos and videos, then invested the revenue in property, vehicles, cryptocurrency, gold, and time‑deposit accounts; prosecutors characterize this as “laundering OnlyFans income.”bianet+1

• This appears to be the first major operation where adult‑content revenue itself is treated as proceeds of crime, expanding enforcement from morality/obscenity to financial‑crime frameworks.bianet+1

Collateral measures on live‑stream and social apps

• Shortly after the February 2026 OnlyFans‑related detentions, the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) imposed access bans on a cluster of live‑streaming and social apps such as Bigo, MICO, SUGO, Poppo, MIGO, SoulChill, LiveMe, Cheero, and LopMe.[babaocagi.com]​

• These steps were publicly linked in coverage to the OnlyFans operations, suggesting a broader clampdown on platforms perceived as facilitating sexualized live content and monetization outside traditional regulatory channels.[babaocagi.com]​