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“It was through necessity, I needed an income. It wasn’t because I wanted to just get naked or post pictures of myself,” says Mark.

He lost his job because of coronavirus in March and began posting semi-nude images on a subscriber-based social network.

The 32-year-old had been working for a five-star resort company, performing in shows. But when lockdown hit, his contract was cancelled.

“I applied for every single job I could find – all of the supermarkets, anything that was on the JobCentre website – I applied for them all.”

He later set up an OnlyFans account on his friend’s recommendation.

On the platform, followers pay a monthly subscription fee to access creators’ photos, videos or live streams, with the firm taking 20% commission. It isn’t just aimed at people who sell nude images, but many users do.

Despite the “no full-frontal nudity” disclaimer in his bio, it started to pick up. Mark estimates that he’s made about £1,500 over the last four months, posting similar content on his Instagram account.

“OnlyFans paid my rent. It’s paid for food. It’s paid for my car to keep running. It has literally paid for the necessities of living,” says Mark.

“On the flip side of that, there is also the negativity,” he adds. He says he received “abusive” messages from friends online when he first set up his page.

“They told me that I was selling my soul,” he says. “They had assumed that I was going to be having sex with everyone and posting videos of it. My page isn’t that at all.”

And while Mark refuses requests to post explicit photos or videos of sexual acts, he worries that other new users might feel forced to if they’re short on cash.

“Younger people these days post everything on social media. It’s just one step further and it means you’re making money,” he says. “I think that’s appealing to a lot of people when it’s so difficult to find a job at the minute.”

“I’m not the only one among my friends who have lost their jobs and turned to this,” says Rebecca (not her real name). The 22-year-old from Scotland lost her job as a craftworker apprentice and moved back in with her parents in April.

Having experimented with selling nudes online in the past, “it became apparent that I would need to take it more seriously on losing my job,” she says.

She set up an OnlyFans account and now schedules photo shoots of “soft-core” nudes for when her mum and dad are out of the house. She’s made hundreds of pounds selling these to her subscribers, who pay £5.55 per month.

‘It can be dangerous’

Rebecca enjoys that she has control over her hours and who she speaks to online. “It is a good source of income,” she says, before adding, “but it does come with risks.”

“It’s a lot of emotional labour,” she says. “You really have to open yourself up and be vulnerable and it can be dangerous.”

Lexi (again, not her real name), from Greater Manchester, says that the amount of unpaid labour involved is also underestimated: taking photos, getting ready, social media promotion, responding to client requests.

The 36-year-old pole dance instructor and stripper set up her OnlyFans page after her places of work were shut during lockdown. She made about £1,000 in the first month, which she used to pay her rent and bills.

“You’re basically working as a commission-only salesperson. If you don’t do the work, you don’t get paid.”

She describes the emergence of these platforms into the mainstream as a “double-edged sword”.

“It’s good that it’s removing the stigma by bringing it more into the public eye,” but customers are looking for cheaper content as more sellers sign up, she says. The market is oversaturated.

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Megan Barton-Hanson

“If you’re going to set up a subscription site for a bit of fun – please don’t. There are people who are using it to try and survive at the moment,” she says.

She urges people to think about starting out in the industry carefully: “Set your boundaries before you make your content. Remember that it is out there forever.”

As well as the possibility of being harassed by customers, privacy is a concern for Mark, Rebecca and Lexi. It can be difficult to hide your identity online and content can be stolen.

Photos or videos on such platforms may be copied and shared elsewhere, taking away sellers’ incomes, or “outing” them to friends, family or employers.

Earlier this year, London-based OnlyFans saw a reported “leak” of users’ content from the site. It breached the platform’s policy that creators’ content on the site isn’t allowed to be shared.

A BBC Three investigation also found evidence of the firm’s age verification process being circumvented, meaning under-18s were able to illegally sell explicit content of themselves on the site.

At the time, OnlyFans said that if it is alerted to any underage individual who has gained “illegitimate access” to the platform, it always takes immediate steps to investigate and suspend the account.

Jump in sign-ups

Yet more and more people are signing up to sites like OnlyFans.

OnlyFans told the BBC that between March and July, the number of UK creators increased by 42% to about 95,000.

Another UK platform, AdmireMe, saw an increase of about one-third on its usual number of sign-ups after lockdown started.

Teela Sanders, a criminology professor at the University of Leicester, says that platforms need to go further in signposting risks to new users and helping them if they receive unwanted messages or want to delete their profile entirely.

“There certainly is a lot more that needs to be done, especially as we see new platforms popping up all of the time, which don’t necessarily have the awareness that they need to be responsible platforms,” she says.

She expects the industry will only continue to grow as the UK heads into the worst recession seen in decades. “Online sex work was already becoming much more visible, more socially acceptable.”

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Getty Images

An OnlyFans spokesperson said: “With a duty to help battle against illegal piracy, OnlyFans is firmly in the fight to protect user content.”

The firm said it has a dedicated team that issues formal “takedown” notices against reported leaks and copyright violations. More than 75% of content reported as stolen has been taken down from offending websites successfully this year, the spokesperson added.

“The safety of our content creators is a top priority,” they said.

OnlyFans said it also had a strict “on-boarding” process and offered guidance to new users on how best to use the 18+ platform on its blog. But it said ultimately, “every creator needs to consider the pros and cons”.

A Home Office spokesperson said that there were plans to “put a legal duty of care on online platforms, backed up by an independent regulator, to hold them to account”, as outlined in the Online Harms White paper.

“This world-leading legislation will help us tackle harmful content online and make the UK the safest place in the world to be online.”

The chair of the Lords Democracy and Digital Committee recently warned, however, that the government’s online protection bill might not come into effect until 2023 or 2024.

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PAUL ELLIS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Online grocer Ocado says the switch to internet shopping amid the coronavirus lockdown has led to a “permanent redrawing” of the retail landscape.

Its comments came as it said sales during the first half of 2020 jumped 27% to more than £1bn.

“The world as we know it has changed,” said chief executive Tim Steiner.

“As a result of Covid-19, we have seen years of growth in the online grocery market condensed into a matter of months; and we won’t be going back.”

“We are confident that accelerated growth in the online channel will continue, leading to a permanent redrawing of the landscape of the grocery industry worldwide.”

He said Ocado was now the fastest growing grocer in the UK, thanks to a 50/50 partnership with Marks and Spencer announced last year.

As part of the deal, which saw M&S take a half-share in Ocado’s retail business, Ocado will start delivering M&S grocery products from September, when its current deal with Waitrose expires.

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Ocado

The group reported a loss before tax of £40.6m in the six months to the end of May, blaming an increase in investment to handle the higher demand generated as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

During the period the company opened its first two customer fulfilment centres abroad, for Casino in France and Sobeys in Canada, while increasing capacity in the UK.

• Retailers report sales jump in June

The loss was smaller than the £147.4m posted in the same period last year, although that figure included £99m of costs incurred as a result of a major fire at its warehouse in Andover.

But after raising £1bn through an equity and bond issue last month, Ocado said it had £2.3bn in cash on its balance sheet.

“There is evidence to suggest many shoppers will likely continue buying their groceries online once lockdown measures have been lifted completely, but it will be difficult for Ocado to maintain the sales registered at the peak of the crisis,” said John Moore, senior investment manager at Brewin Dolphin.

“Nevertheless, Ocado has a strong balance sheet and the Covid-19 pandemic has super-accelerated many of the trends that have led to its exceptional share price growth over the last few years, placing the company in a good position for the future.”

A new Lidl a week

Separately, discount grocer Lidl has revealed plans to open a shop a week until Christmas, creating 1,000 jobs.

The 25 new stores will be opened across England, Scotland and Wales with sites in Selhurst, Harrow Weald, Coleford and Llandudno Junction opening in the coming weeks.

By the end of 2023 it plans another 100 stores across Britain, creating 4,000 more jobs, and bringing its total number of shops to 1,000.

“It is testament to the continued hard work of our colleagues that we are able to continue forging ahead with our expansion plans, despite the challenging circumstances that have been faced over the past months,” said Lidl GB boss Christian Härtnagel.

Lidl – which opened its first shops in the UK in 1994 – has opened new stores throughout the pandemic in locations such as Birmingham, Torquay and across London.

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Reuters

The UK’s decision to ban Huawei’s 5G kits from use in mobile networks and to also stop using its equipment in full-fibre broadband networks is not without consequence for the country’s internet users.

As the Digital Minister Oliver Dowden acknowledged, the decisions will have “consequences for every constituency in the country”.

The Chinese firm itself has claimed customers will face bigger bills as a consequence of the billions of pounds that will be spent ripping out its kit and moving to other suppliers.

And there could be further consequences for the wider economy if Huawei diverts its research and recruitment funds elsewhere, not to mention other Chinese companies that might now see the UK as a less friendly market.

Will this mean my Huawei phone stops working?

No.

The move affects the equipment at radio masts and inside telephone exchanges that operators use rather than individual consumer devices sold by the firm.

“It doesn’t directly affect the Huawei technology you use at home, such as smartphones, laptops and tablets,” explains the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

“All your apps should continue to work, and your phone/laptop/tablet should keep getting security updates for its normal lifetime.”

But the new US sanctions do restrict Huawei’s ability to get its own chip designs manufactured, which in turn may slow the pace it can make improvements to its hardware. In addition, other restrictions mean new Huawei devices cannot offer Google’s services, including its Play Store and smart assistant.

Will it affect my 5G service?

Possibly.

Vodafone, Three and EE had all begun rolling out 5G services reliant on Huawei’s kit nationwide, and they now face having to replace it with equipment from another vendor.

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Getty Images

Vodafone and EE had previously indicated that if given less than five years to do so, their customers might face mobile coverage blackouts. But the 2027 deadline gives them more time.

However, Mr Dowden acknowledged that a requirement to stop buying new Huawei kit by the end of this year would slow down the wider rollout of 5G by a year. And he added that when one takes into account the 2027 ban and earlier restrictions imposed on the use of the firm’s technology, the cumulative delay would be “two to three years”.

That means 5G will remain patchy for longer than it would have done and some parts of the country will have to wait longer to get any access to the next-generation service.

Does it mean my broadband is going to suffer too?

Perhaps.

In the last election, one of the government’s flagship pledges was gigabit connectivity for all by 2025.

That involves connecting properties directly to local phone exchanges with fibre – which was already a hugely challenging task to carry out nationwide.

As part of its recommendations, NCSC has said that Openreach and other broadband infrastructure providers should stop deploying Huawei’s “fibre access equipment” – meaning the kit in local exchanges that handles and routes data as it arrives and departs, rather than the internet routers in people’s homes.

But there is a problem: a present Nokia is the only other supplier of some of the kit involved.

And NCSC has warned that the risks involved in a shift to a single vendor outweigh those of continuing to use Huawei for the time being.

The government intends to discuss the matter further with operators and hopes at least one other kit provider can be fully substituted for Huawei within two years.

But if they struggle to identify one, then security chiefs have explicitly said that once the US sanctions fully kick in, they might be “unable to gain sufficient assurance in these products to mitigate the risks”.

In other words, the UK might have to slow down the rollout of gigabit broadband and miss the government’s target.

Are my bills going to go up?

It’s too soon to say, although talk of £2bn in added costs do not bode well.

In terms of mobile, the Telegraph has reported that the networks are hoping to offset added costs by convincing the government to make it cheaper for them to buy the airwaves necessary to provide 5G services.

But if less money flows to the Treasury as a consequence, taxes might have to go up to compensate.

In terms of broadband, it depends whether Openreach experiences higher costs of its own in sourcing products from new suppliers, and then feels the needs to pass those onto individual internet service providers (ISPs).

Huawei’s UK research bases

One consequence of shunning Huawei is that it might lead the company to rethink its research and development investments in the country.

The firm has sponsored work at several universities including Imperial College, London, Southampton and Surrey.

In addition, it operates research centres of its own employing a total of 400 people in:

• Edinburgh
• Bristol
• Cambridge
• Ipswich

The company also recently gained planning permission to build a new £1bn research centre at Sawston – a large village to the south of Cambridge. It has said the development would create hundreds of further jobs.

But one expert said the new restrictions might not mean the project will be abandoned.

“The research centre in Cambridge has been many years in the planning, and may well be its future sourcing of important technologies within the global supply chain, so Huawei might want to keep it if it is allowed,” said Emily Taylor from the Chatham House think tank.

Where is Huawei’s kit used in UK?

Mobile networks can be divided into two parts: the core and the radio access network (Ran).

The core is likened to the brain and carries out the most sensitive operations, including authenticating users’ identities and making sure calls get sent to the right radio tower to connect to another person’s phone.

The Ran includes the base stations and antennas used to provide a link between individual mobile devices and the core. Insiders sometimes describe this as the “innovative but dumb” part of the network.

BT’s EE mobile network features Huawei in the core of its 4G and 5G networks, but the firm is in the process of replacing it with Ericsson’s products, and has promised to do so by the end of 2023.

Otherwise, the UK’s main mobile providers only use Huawei in the Ran, and then always as part of a mix with at least one other vendor:

• EE to provide 2G, 4G and 5G
• Vodafone to provide 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G
• Three to provide 4G and 5G
• O2 to provide 5G at a relatively small number of sites in London, where it tested the equipment before opting to go with other suppliers elsewhere

Huawei also provides broadband equipment to BT’s Openreach division, which owns the infrastructure used by other ISPs, including Plusnet, Sky and TalkTalk.

These days, the focus is on rolling out fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) connections, which offer the fastest speeds and are key to delivering the government’s “gigabit for all” 2025 pledge.

In this case, Openreach uses Huawei’s kit at what it calls the “headend” – a gateway at local telephone exchanges that converts electrical signals to and from light-based ones, and makes sure each customer’s data is sent to the appropriate ISP.

Many people still get their internet via slower connections, which are routed via intermediary street cabinets.

About 70,000 of these cabinets contain Huawei’s kit, and the data also passes through more of the Chinese firm’s products at local exchanges.

Openreach does not, however, use Huawei’s equipment in its core.

Elsewhere, CityFibre – which runs its own smaller full-fibre networks – uses some Huawei gear as a legacy of an acquisition, but intends to strip it out by mid-2021.

Virgin Media does not use Huawei’s equipment within its broadband network.

But it does use it to provide telephone services, both for internet-based landline calls as well as to provide mobile phone subscriptions.

Other mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) – including Sky Mobile and GiffGaff – also use Huawei’s gear.

It effectively sits between each MVNO and the mobile network whose infrastructure is used, and helps calculate customer bills, among other IT services.

More than 800 million people around the world use the social media, short-video app TikTok.

But plenty of governments across the world are concerned that the Chinese-owned app allows the Chinese government to access your data.

For this reason, India, has already banned the use of the app in their country.

The BBC’s Sophia Smith Galer explains why other countries might follow and how we got to the point where TikTok could soon be banned in your country.

Video by Ameer Ahmed and Parveen Virdi