Third party “chatters” have been exploiting users’ emotions to get them to spend more money.

OnlyFans is no stranger to legal trouble, and they’re back in the courthouse boxing ring with another lawsuit. This time, the adults-only website is being sued for knowingly allowing “chatters” to impersonate content creators. If those bringing the suit against OnlyFans win, this has the potential to rock the creator economy and impact user trust in a platform that has been a trusted source of content for millions of consumers.

What is this lawsuit all about? “Chatters” are hired by third-party managers to pose in private chats as the content creator the user believes they’re speaking to. They’re trained to exploit subscribers’ emotions so that users will spend even more money on the platform. The lawsuit states that OnlyFans was aware of this practice and elected to allow it to continue because they profited from it, even though the platform has strict rules against impersonation. Affected users feel scammed, as they’ve been paying for what they thought was direct interaction with their favorite creator.

OnlyFans stays in business by taking a 20% revenue cut from all creator earnings, including money generated in private chats. The chatters have allegedly been trained to emotionally manipulate the subscribers they’re chatting with in order to convince them to spend more money on things like pay-per-view content, tips and donations, subscription upgrades, custom content requests, and exclusive or premium chatting with the content creator—even though the creator they were pretending to be wasn’t the one doing the chatting. Once users caught wise to the fact that they might not be interacting with the content creator they thought they were talking to, but rather a chatter trained to impersonate them, trust was broken. OnlyFans’ reputation has taken a hit as users feel misled, and in some cases, have had their personal privacy violated.

The stakes for this legal battle aren’t exactly low. If OnlyFans loses, the platform could face massive payouts to affected users and much stricter regulations on user interactions. A loss for OnlyFans could also change how creator-to-fan interaction is managed on all adults-only platforms, meaning it isn’t just OnlyFans that stands to face significant changes if the court sides with the plaintiffs. Other influencer platforms are keeping a close eye on this case and bracing themselves for copycat suits for alleged deceptive monetization tactics.

So what should users watch for as this case continues to unfold? Both users who pay for engagement and content creators who utilize third-party management methods will be paying attention to see which way the court lands. In the meantime, if you’re planning to chat with a creator and want to make sure it’s actually them, there are a few giveaways to watch for. Is the creator giving you generic responses? Are they taking longer than expected to reply? You might be talking to a chatter instead of the creator you thought you were engaging with. Regardless of how this plays out, one can hope this will motivate OnlyFans to strive for more authentic engagement.