Author: Bryce Canyon

The internet has always been a battlefield, but the weapons keep getting stranger. While most people are busy arguing in comment sections and doomscrolling through reels, foreign governments have been quietly weaponizing the same platforms for something considerably more calculated. Iran, according to multiple analyses from researchers and intelligence officials, has emerged as one of the most aggressive players in the global disinformation game. And their tactics are evolving fast enough to make your head spin.

Current reports identify Iran as a top-tier disinformation threat, deploying vast quantities of AI-generated content across social media to boost its military image, manufacture fake public support, and create what analysts have taken to calling “fake armies” online. The campaigns rely heavily on AI-generated personas, deepfakes, and coordinated troll operations targeting American and Israeli audiences, particularly during periods of heightened conflict in the Middle East. The goal is familiar to anyone who has followed this space: sow confusion, amplify division, and make it increasingly impossible to know what’s real.

So far, these operations have stuck to traditional social media platforms, the Facebooks and X’s and TikToks of the world, where the reach is broad and the moderation is, to put it charitably, inconsistent. There is no direct evidence that Iran or any state actor has turned to subscription platforms like OnlyFans to run influence operations. But the question of whether they could is not as absurd as it sounds.

OnlyFans and platforms like it are built around parasocial intimacy. Subscribers pay for the feeling of a personal connection with a creator. It’s an environment primed for trust-building, which is, not coincidentally, exactly what a long-game influence operation looks for. An AI-generated persona running a free OnlyFans account, cultivating a loyal following of military veterans or politically engaged subscribers before nudging them toward specific content or viewpoints, is not science fiction. It is a logical extension of tactics already documented on mainstream platforms. The AI-generated influencer problem is already well established. The only question is which platforms are next.

Meanwhile, something more organic is happening in the data. “Arab OnlyFans” has become a notable search term on adult platforms, and anecdotal evidence suggests interest has climbed in the years since conflict in the Middle East intensified in public consciousness. It is a complicated phenomenon to untangle.

Some of that search traffic reflects genuine interest in Arab and Middle Eastern creators, a demographic that has historically been underrepresented in mainstream adult content. Some of it is almost certainly tied to the broader cultural fixation on the region that war coverage tends to produce, which is its own uncomfortable thing to sit with. And some portion of it may reflect audiences seeking out content that feels transgressive against a backdrop of geopolitical tension, which is not exactly a new human impulse but is newly easy to act on.

None of this means that OnlyFans is potentially a propaganda machine. It means the internet is porous; culture, conflict, and commerce bleed into each other constantly, and platforms built on anonymity and intimacy are not immune to the same exploitation that has compromised every other corner of the digital world.

The creators on OnlyFans are overwhelmingly exactly what they appear to be: real people building real audiences and making a living. But in an era when AI can generate a convincing human face, voice, and personality in minutes, “appears to be” is doing a lot of heavy lifting. The disinformation researchers will catch up eventually. They always do. The question is whether the platforms will be ready when they get there.

Because America Runs on More Than Dunkin’

If you thought care packages for deployed troops maxed out at beef jerky and crossword puzzles, think again. An OnlyFans model has gone viral for sending what she’s calling “a bit of stress relief” to soldiers stationed overseas, and no, she’s not talking about a sudoku book.

Madelynn May has been mailing X-rated care packages to deployed military members who reach out to her online. The packages reportedly include printed photos and other personalized goodies that fall well outside the Geneva Convention’s list of prohibited items, but probably weren’t what your local Army recruiter had in mind either. She’s framed the whole operation as a patriotic gesture, and honestly, it’s hard to argue with the logic. If the government isn’t going to adequately fund mental health resources for active duty personnel, at least somebody’s thinking outside the box.

It’s not like this is the first time a woman has used her platform to boost troop morale. Marilyn Monroe traveled to South Korea in 1954 for a series of USO performances that became the stuff of legend, playing to crowds of tens of thousands of freezing, screaming soldiers who absolutely lost their minds. The whole tradition of entertainers showing up for servicemembers dates back generations, and the underlying idea has always been the same: these people are far from home, doing a hard job, and a little human warmth goes a long way. The delivery method has simply evolved with the times.

The story caught fire on social media because it hits the perfect trifecta of military appreciation, sex positivity, and the kind of only-in-America entrepreneurial spirit that makes this country simultaneously exhausting and fascinating. Supporters called it sweet. Critics called it inappropriate. The internet, as always, called it content.

Here’s something about OnlyFans that tends to get lost in the pearl-clutching: free OnlyFans is a legit thing, as a significant chunk of the platform costs zero dollars. Anyone with an internet connection and a willingness to make an account can access no-cost content from thousands of creators who use free subscriptions to build their audience before upselling premium material. It’s essentially the same model as every free-to-play mobile game you’ve ever downloaded at 2 a.m.

Some creators have taken that model further by offering complimentary access specifically to military members, first responders, and veterans. It’s a PR move, sure, but it’s also a genuine gesture from people who, unlike most Fortune 500 companies on Veterans Day, are actually putting something tangible on the line to back it up.

The care package creator isn’t alone in this lane. A growing number of OnlyFans stars have carved out military appreciation initiatives, whether through free subscriptions, discounted rates, or personalized content sent directly to service members. In a weird way, it’s more tangible support than a yellow ribbon bumper sticker, and considerably more memorable than a 10% discount at Applebee’s.

Critics argue that it’s exploitative of soldiers, of patriotism, and of the whole content-creator industrial complex. That conversation is worth having. But it’s also worth noting that the soldiers in question are adults who are perfectly capable of deciding whether they’d prefer a risqué photo in their care package or another pack of instant oatmeal.

What the story really underscores is how thoroughly OnlyFans has woven itself into the cultural fabric in ways nobody predicted. It’s not just an adult content platform anymore. It’s a marketplace, a community, a PR vehicle, and apparently now a morale-boosting operation with international shipping. 

Sophie Rain, a 21-year-old devout Christian virgin who has made over $110 million selling adult content wants to find her God-fearing husband on primetime network television. Rain, who by any measurable metric is one of the top OnlyFans creators in the platform’s history, made her pitch public on March 20th, tagging @BacheloretteABC on X with the kind of casual confidence that only someone who made $43 million in their first year on a platform can muster. The post read simply: “heard you needed a new bachelorette for this upcoming season.” The comment section, predictably, erupted.

The timing was not accidental. ABC canceled The Bachelorette Season 22 after a 2023 video resurfaced showing the chosen lead, Taylor Frankie Paul, in a physical altercation with her ex, Dakota Mortensen. This was the first time in franchise history that an entire season has been shelved. The network was left with a gaping primetime hole, a rattled fanbase, and approximately zero backup plans. Into that vacuum stepped Rain, armed with 14.9 million TikTok followers and the kind of origin story that would make any network executive’s eyes turn into dollar signs.

Rain, who has 14.9 million TikTok followers compared to Paul’s 6.1 million, would score big for the ratings-challenged series, according to fans who told the network her stardom “would break the internet.” One particularly enthusiastic commenter announced they had never watched a single episode of the show but would DVR the entire season if ABC signed her. That is the kind of audience crossover that no focus group could manufacture.

Here’s where the story becomes genuinely fascinating rather than just delightfully absurd. Rain’s appeal for the role isn’t the cynical PR stunt it might look like from the outside. She said she’d take the gig for zero compensation.

“Of course,” she told the New York Post. “They need a real girl like me to come and take it seriously.” And she means that last part with complete sincerity.

Rain grew up poor in Miami, frequently relying on food stamps as a child, and worked as a waitress on minimum wage before launching her OnlyFans in May 2023 — a decision she says was divinely guided. “If this wasn’t meant for me,” she has said, “I wouldn’t be here right now.” The Lord, she has noted elsewhere, is very forgiving.

The virginity angle is where the whole thing becomes a network executive’s fever dream.

“As many people know, I am a virgin, so I take dating very seriously. I won’t do anything with a man unless marriage or God tells me he is the one. I definitely can be flirty, but I would genuinely like to get to know all of the 20 men,” she told the Post. A woman who has built a nine-figure fortune on adult content, who remains genuinely, sincerely celibate, earnestly searching for a Christian man ready for marriage. This is not a contradiction she’s trying to resolve. This is just who she is, and the cognitive whiplash it produces in everyone around her is frankly the most compelling television premise of the decade.

She has seen a few Bachelors who caught her eye over the years, naming Joey Graziadei as a particular favorite, who is, in the way all good things are, already engaged and planning a 2027 wedding. Classic.

Rain explained that her OnlyFans fame makes dating genuinely difficult. “It makes dating harder because a lot of men come in with assumptions,” she said. “Some are curious for the wrong reasons, some get insecure, and some like the attention until they realize this is my real life and real business.”

Which is, when you think about it, the perfect Bachelorette arc. Twenty men, all of whom definitely googled her before filming. Producers who cannot believe their luck. A lead who is completely earnest, financially untouchable, and looking for something real. She has also donated $121,000 to Feeding America, because apparently being one of the internet’s biggest adult content creators and being a genuinely good person are not, in fact, mutually exclusive.

ABC hasn’t called yet. “Not yet. But clearly people are into the idea, so who knows,” Rain said. They should call. This is the show.

Here’s a sentence nobody had on their 2026 bingo card: a 93-year-old Hollywood legend is beefing with Euphoria‘s most famous set of breasts, and the argument is actually kind of profound if you squint at it right.

Kim Novak — Vertigo star, Hitchcock muse, certified icon — has come out swinging against the casting of Sydney Sweeney in Scandalous, an upcoming biopic about Novak’s doomed 1957 romance with Sammy Davis Jr., and she is not being diplomatic about it. In an interview with The Times of London, Novak announced, “I would never have approved,” before dropping the line everyone is going to be quoting for the next six months. About Sweeney, Novak said she “sticks out so much above the waist.”

Iconic. Unhinged. Completely correct, depending on your read.

“There’s no way it wouldn’t be a sexual relationship because Sydney Sweeney looks sexy all the time,” Novak continued. “She was totally wrong to play me.”

Now, before you roll your eyes at a nonagenarian grumbling about casting decisions for a movie she has no control over, consider the cultural backdrop here. Novak came up in an era when the reigning beauty ideal in Hollywood leaned toward the svelte and the angular — think Audrey Hepburn’s collarbone, Grace Kelly’s cool reserve. Novak herself was considered a bombshell, but by the more understated standards of mid-century taste.

Fast forward to 2026, and pop culture’s idea of the female body has done a full 180 — or rather, a full double-D. From the Kardashian decade’s surgical curves to the relentless thirst-trap economy of Instagram, bigger busts have been back in fashion with a vengeance. There’s a reason so many people search for “Huge Tits Only Fans” when they’re looking for a little fun on that site.

Of course, Sweeney didn’t create that shift. But she has arguably become its most talked-about beneficiary, a fact that has followed her from HBO press junkets to lingerie campaigns to, now, the objections of a woman born in 1933 who just wants her legacy treated with some nuance.

And that’s really the point Novak is making, even if she’s making it in the most blunt way imaginable. “I don’t think the relationship was scandalous. He’s somebody I really cared about. We had so much in common, including that need to be accepted for who we are and what we do, rather than how we look,” she has said. Her fear isn’t that Sweeney is a bad actress. It’s that the second Sweeney walks onto screen, audiences primed by years of Euphoria GIFs and viral magazine covers will project a certain kind of story onto the film before a single word of dialogue lands.

The actual story is considerably darker and more interesting than any amount of sexual chemistry could capture. Novak and Davis met in 1956, and their relationship developed quietly before becoming public in 1958. What followed was less romance than reckoning.

Columbia Pictures boss Harry Cohn paid for a mobster to threaten Davis with violence unless he married a Black woman immediately. Nine days after the gossip columns ran the story, Davis married dancer Loray White. The marriage collapsed within a year. Novak has spent decades trying to explain that what she and Davis had was about something more than forbidden attraction. It was about two outsiders who recognized each other. “I felt that by seeing Sammy and Sammy seeing me, that we could help people understand and accept interracial relationships of any kind,” she said.

That’s the movie Novak wants made. Or, more accurately, doesn’t want to be made badly.

Sweeney told People she was “incredibly honored” to play the role, noting, “I think her story is still very relevant today in that she dealt with Hollywood and scrutiny with her relationships and her own private life and the control of her image.” Which is, ironically, a pretty self-aware thing to say. Sweeney knows exactly what it’s like to have your image hijacked by the internet.

The project has reportedly stalled anyway, so the whole debate may be academic. But Novak has been dismissed by Hollywood once before, by men far more powerful and far more threatening than a stalled production. She’s not going quietly this time either. Chest comments and all.

Let’s set the scene. It’s 2001. A gap-toothed Liverpudlian with a voice like sunshine and the charisma of someone who absolutely did not grow up easy is belting out Whole Again with Atomic Kitten, topping the UK charts for five consecutive weeks. Kerry Katona is famous, flush, and about to become one of Britain’s most tabloid-mauled women of the next two decades.

Fast forward to 2026. Kerry Katona is a millionaire. Again. And she got there by doing things that would have made those early-aughts tabloid editors’ heads spin clean off their necks: revealing that she has some of the Best Tits on OnlyFans. Good for her.

The former Atomic Kitten star joined OnlyFans after her work dried up during the COVID-19 pandemic, and she has no regrets about how she makes her money, because she would rather strip off on camera “for a grand a day than pick up litter.” That quote alone should be embroidered on a throw pillow.

To understand why this arc is so satisfying, you need to understand what the British tabloid press did to Kerry Katona for approximately fifteen years straight. After leaving Atomic Kitten in 2001 to have her first child, Katona became the nation’s favorite punching bag: a woman whose marriages, money troubles, and mental health struggles were served up as entertainment with gleeful regularity. She was declared bankrupt in 2008 and again in 2013, and previously discussed feeling suicidal due to financial struggles that saw her forced to sell her mansion after being unable to pay a tax bill. The same papers that printed her bikini photos on page three were printing her misery on page one. Britain’s relationship with Kerry Katona was not its finest hour.

Then COVID hit, and the pantomimes and reality TV gigs evaporated, leaving Katona in a genuinely desperate situation. She joined the adult platform in May 2020 after work drastically dried up, having to borrow £50 from her mum to set up the page, as she could only afford to feed her kids pasta or tinned and frozen food at the time. She consulted her five children before signing up. They were, apparently, fine with it. Which says something either wonderful or chaotic about the Katona household dynamic. Probably both.

What followed was a masterclass in monetizing exactly the thing people had been using against her. She made £160,000 in her first month, and things never really slowed down. She now charges fans £19.99 per month, earns tens of thousands each month from subscriptions, and has used the income to buy an amazing home and a Lamborghini, as well as to send her children to private school. The same woman who had to borrow fifty quid to feed her kids is now pulling up in a Lambo. The tabloids created this narrative arc, and they have to live with it.

When asked about total earnings, Katona was uncharacteristically coy. “I’m not saying because it’s just bragging, but a lot. In the millions.” That’s not bragging. That’s a victory lap conducted at 150 miles per hour in Italian leather seats.

She’s also put the money to work. Katona has launched her own clothing boutique and a dating app, crediting OnlyFans for providing capital to invest in herself and build more companies. The woman isn’t just selling content — she’s building a portfolio. Meanwhile, her critics are still typing angry comments from their lunch breaks.

“People are quick to say, ‘she’s desperate’ if I get out a bit of nipple, but I’ve made my first million since bankruptcy and I’m so, so proud,” she said. And she should be. Because the real story of Kerry Katona isn’t the tabloid version — the fallen pop star, the cautionary tale. It’s the story of a woman who survived a brutal industry, two bankruptcies, and years of public humiliation, then figured out how to flip the whole rotten game on its head and win anyway.

It’s become a familiar song and dance at this point. A kid the internet is used to seeing on YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok turns 18, and suddenly there’s a new OnlyFans page doing SERIOUS numbers. Piper Rockelle is the latest lightning rod, and her sudden switch from childish prank videos to adult content behind a paywall is giving more than one person whiplash. We all know I’m a big fan of women getting their bag on OnlyFans, so there are no pearls being clutched here. There is, however, a shapely eyebrow arched at the fact that there seems to be a distinct pipeline of newly adult women jumping into OnlyFans the minute they turn 18, after a childhood and early adolescence spent creating content on mainstream platforms.

For those of you wondering who Piper Rockelle is, here’s your refresher. She’s been internet famous since childhood, showing up on YouTube and TikTok with highly produced vlogs, parasocial closeness, and a consistent camera presence that allowed her to grow an impressive audience as a minor. The minute she turned 18, she launched an OnlyFans and has allegedly made several million dollars already. Piper has publicly stated that joining OnlyFans was fully her decision, an intentional choice that was completely in her control. She’s made a killing in less than a month, so first of all, congrats to her. But there’s more going on here, and not just with Piper, that needs to be talked about.

The trend of internet-famous child stars joining OnlyFans isn’t exactly new. Piper Rockelle isn’t an outlier, she’s part of a pattern. Bhad Bhabie initially rose to fame after her viral Dr. Phil moment, then became an influencer, then joined OnlyFans as soon as she turned 18, breaking records when she did. Lil Tay was more or less raised in front of her Instagram audience with her viral “youngest flexer” videos, then joined OnlyFans the minute she turned 18 (there was literally a countdown clock) and made millions within her first 24 hours. These young women had a few things in common: they already had an audience trained to watch their content, their fame was monetized long before moving to a paywalled platform, and a sense of intimacy was already expected and established with their audience.

Let’s revisit what Piper has said about joining OnlyFans. She chose this for herself. She’s not being forced or coerced into creating and selling adult content, and she understands the business aspect of what she’s chosen to do. She is (newly) 18, and yes, grown women can sell adult content. OnlyFans is legitimate labor, and sex work isn’t some kind of moral failure. The platform and the women who turn a profit on it aren’t villains.

But I have a question I can’t shake, so I’m making it everyone’s problem. If you spent your entire childhood on display online, being watched, praised for your visibility, and rewarded for performance, what does “choice” even mean when it comes to choosing a path for yourself as an adult? Were these newly adult women taught who they are by anyone other than their audience? Were they exposed to career paths that don’t involve monetizing attention? These young women are making bank due to a demand for what they’re showing up to do. There’s hella money on the table to be had. But with so many young women joining OnlyFans when they’re technically adults, yet not having the life experience to fully understand the reality of adult consequences, have we built a pipeline without intending to?

When we platform children, we teach them that online fame rewards availability, constant access, and personal exposure. When that starts young, entering adulthood doesn’t magically reset the system. Am I concerned about OnlyFans? Nope. It’s a platform that works to ensure the women keeping the wheels greased can pursue financial independence in ways they never could before. My concern is that we’re training girls from the get-go to see cameras as mirrors.

Two things can be true: OnlyFans creators deserve respect, and childhood deserves better protection. You can be pro-OnlyFans and still question why so many young women who have just turned 18 arrive there already famous, used to being watched, and trained to adjust a polished performance based on fan interaction. I wish Piper nothing but the best in her new venture, and good on her for jumping on an opportunity that seems to be serving her well.

As a devoted watcher of trash tv, it should shock no one that I was a big fan of MTV’s 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom. What should shock you is that Farrah Abraham— yes, that Farrah Abraham— decided to run for mayor of the City of Austin, Texas. She’s been in and out of the tabloids ever since her time on MTV, and is generally seen as any one of the following: a reality-TV villain, entrepreneur, spicy content creator, and a walking headline generator who is never too far removed from something scandalous. If you’ve ever learned too much about a stranger at a grocery store against your will, then you already know Farrah’s general vibe. For better or worse, she’s a reality TV star who has decided that dipping her toe into politics in Austin, TX is a good idea.

How did Farrah decide that was the journey? Glad you asked! She moved to Austin in 2013, and publicly says that she loves the city she’s called home for over a decade. She’s been there exactly long enough to complain about traffic unironically, and to feel personally victimized by rising rent costs, but I somehow doubt that she has a tamale lady who saves the last batch for her. Allegedly, Farrah decided that she “wants to help” the city she loves, and a reality star has famously won political office before, so she decided that running for mayor was the way to go.

She filed the paperwork to run for Austin mayor in 2026, stating her intentions to help the City of Austin, support creatives, entrepreneurs, and self-employed people, and fix city-level issues that she says are affecting residents. Her intent? Sincere. Her execution? Questionable. If you watched her like I did when she first rose to fame, you know that Farrah’s nothing if not ambitious, optimistic, and not too great at remembering smaller details. That last thing came back to bite her in the ass in front of a live audience.

TMZ was doing what they do, and invited Farrah to do a live interview, which is where she found out— on camera— that Austin’s mayoral race isn’t until 2028. She genuinely believed the race was later this year (we’re in 2026, in case you’ve been hibernating since December), and somehow NO ONE had corrected her assumption yet. Secondhand embarrassment, meet civic education, because if there’s one way you don’t want to find out that your election math is wrong on a very basic level, it’s live on TMZ. Clips circulated immediately as the internet did what it always does, and Farrah dropped out of the mayoral race.

But wait! There’s more! Farrah being Farrah, she couldn’t let a silly thing like “running for office in the wrong year” stop her. After ending her early-bird mayoral bid, she’s decided to refocus on the Austin City Council, District 5. District 5 covers parts of South and Southwest Austin, but more importantly— to Farrah, anyway— that election is this year. She’ll now be running for Austin City Council in November of 2026, which is a much more realistic political entry point for the former reality TV star. The seat she’s running for is still local to her, still civic-minded, but definitely a titch less “run the whole city before learning how it works.”

Is civic participation an important and good thing? Yes. I have to give her credit there, even though it got a little messy. Let’s be honest, plenty of politicians have won with worse résumés, and Farrah’s nothing if not committed to a cause… once someone else has clued her in to all of the finer details. Let’s hope that if she wins the seat she’s got her eye on, that someone else is in charge of calendar keeping. Austin politics can always use a little passion infusion, and Farrah’s one passionate person… who needs a planner.