Meta top executives accused of taking bribes from OnlyFans in lawsuit

(Representative image: Reuters)

Earlier in the year, BBC had reported that OnlyFans rival FanCentro was suing the company because it put social media accounts of adult entertainers that linked to the rival website, on an extremist material list run by Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT).

This move apparently caused traffic to FanCentro to plummet while boosting OnlyFans traffic. The lawsuit named Facebook as the co-conspirator behind the move. The database is used by Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Now technology publication Gizmodo has learned through a leaked court document that Meta global affairs President Nick Clegg, Vice President Nicola Mendelsohn and European safety director Cristian Perrella have been accused of taking bribes from OnlyFans in the case.

Meta has alleged that the accusations are baseless, and has already filed a motion to dismiss the suit. It said that it could not be held responsible, even if the suit was to succeed, since content decisions are protected by the First Amendment rights for free speech in the US and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

OnlyFans said that it had asked the court to delete the relevant document that had "inadvertently" left the names of the executives unredacted.

In a statement shared with Engadget, A Meta spokesperson said, "As we make clear in our motion to dismiss, we deny these allegations as they lack facts, merit, or anything that would make them plausible. The allegations are baseless."