Sex work influencers call out lack of transparency as young girls targeted by viral social media content

They call themselves "bops", "mattress actresses" or "spicy content creators", to avoid TikTok's moderators flagging their content as inappropriate.

And watching their content, the audience may not know they're sex workers.

Their viral social media videos feature girls — typically between the ages of 18 and 22 — dancing to TikTok trends made popular by teenagers and modelling a life of luxury.

The popular lifestyle content isn't inherently harmful.

But some sex workers are calling out the lack of transparency in large amounts of viral social media content being targeted at young women, as questions remain about the impact Australia's looming social media ban will have.

The influenced

Tahalia Roe grew up with the internet and has seen sex worker influencers on her social media since she was 13.

Most of the content from these so-called sexfluencers isn't explicit: it's dance videos, make-up routines, travel vlogs and "spicy" story times.

But 19-year-old Tahalia says some of it is targeted at young people, glamorising an often unattainable lifestyle without revealing the realities of sex work.

From her suburban Adelaide home, Tahalia built a fanbase on TikTok in her early teens by live streaming her day-to-day life. Last year, her content went X-rated.

She now has more than 84,000 followers on TikTok, which she uses to cross-promote her explicit content.

"I was freshly 18 when I decided I was going to start modelling on OnlyFans," she says.

Tahalia says some of her friends tried sex work, inspired by social media, but were instead met with online backlash and had their content stolen and leaked.

"You could tell their mental health was getting worse," she says.

"I sat there with one of them and said, 'You can't keep doing this, I'm losing my friend to this … I don't want to lose my friend'." 

But Tahalia says online sex work has changed her own life, bringing her out of a hard place and helping her maintain a stable income while she prioritises her mental health.

She says sexfluencing feels empowering and has helped build her confidence, even though she had trouble navigating the — sometimes predatory — industry when she began.

The influencer

Sexfluencer Kayla Jade is one of the few who have made it big, as a digital and in-person full-service sex worker.

Her lifestyle content has earned the influencer more than 2 million followers on TikTok.

But as her platform — primarily made up of young female followers — grows, the Queenslander has become more aware of the potential impact of her content.

While Kayla rose to fame for money-counting videos — where she would literally count cash on-camera — she's stopped making that type of content, despite the millions of views it attracts.

"They might think, 'Oh she makes so much money on OnlyFans, or so much money as a sex worker, I should do that too'."

Kayla is calling on other sexfluencers to be more transparent about the industry, especially in content targeted at young women.

"Everyone, especially women, in this industry have had some sort of negative experience — whether it's judgement, relationships, career-wise," she says.

The audience

For some teenage girls, including 16-year-old Darwinite Amelia Phommachanh, TikTok is a part of everyday life.

As a youth mental health advocate, she understands the dramatic impact social media can have on her peers.

"If we look at screen time, a lot of kids have more than six hours of screen time [a day], we're scrolling in the dark," she says.

"When we see really lavish lifestyles, there's that comparison to how the viewer lives … there can be thoughts of discontent in their own lives."

Amelia thinks a lot of the young people who decide to go into OnlyFans work don't fully understand the long-term ramifications.

Chief executive of sex worker advocacy group Scarlet Alliance, Mish Pony, says although only a small number of people are influenced into this line of work by what they see on social media, it does happen.

"For young people, I think it is important that they do have a full understanding of any type of industry they might be interested in," they say.

The looming ban

Australia's upcoming social media ban for under 16s is due to come into effect on December 10.

The federal government says it will protect children from online harm. But support for the ban varies among sexfluencers and young people.

Kayla supports the ban and feels it will be healthier for kids to grow up without the temptation of social media.

Tahalia thinks the ban is a good thing, but — like Amelia — she is concerned about how it will be rolled out.

"The ban at the end of the year will be good, it protects kids, but it doesn't really mean that it will stop them," Tahalia says.

Amelia is also worried children under 16 "are going to find other ways to get to that content, to get to what they want to see".

"They're going to start lying about their age on apps, we already do it," she says.

"How do we balance having the good part and restricting the bad part, and why does that mean, all of a sudden, the good parts get cancelled out?"

But Mish is more concerned about a different looming prospect in the way Australia regulates online activity: a ban on pornography for people under 18.

To be implemented in two rounds, during December 2025 and then in March 2026, the pornography ban will mean adults need to provide age verification documents to access pornography.

But Mish says the explicit content ban could have unintended consequences in terms of social media content.

"We already know that tech platforms, social media sites, Google incorrectly flag sexual health promotion materials as adult content," they say.

"We're concerned any discussions around sex work, including non-explicit discussions, will be shadowbanned or subjected to age verification.

"If young people and adults aren't hearing, or able to see, content from sex workers, that's going to leave an information vacuum."

For now, it's a waiting game to see how the bans will roll out and what impact they may have.