Fansly is owned by Select Media LLC, a limited liability company registered in Maryland, USA. Fansly named Select Media as its owner in a February 2024 post, and the US trademark office lists Select Media LLC as owner of the FANSLY trademark. It isn't owned by OnlyFans.
Search for the answer and you'll find a Wyoming company and an Israeli firm named as the owner, and plenty of people asking whether OnlyFans owns it. This guide sticks to what you can check: Fansly's own statement, state business records, trademark filings and the name on creator payouts. Everything here is as of October 2026, and the steps to verify it yourself are near the end.
Who owns Fansly?
Select Media LLC owns and operates Fansly. Three separate records point to the same company:
- Fansly's own statement. On February 2, 2024, Fansly's official X account said "Fansly is owned by Select Media based in the United States".
- The trademark register. The USPTO lists Select Media LLC, a Maryland limited liability company, as owner of the registered FANSLY word mark.
- Creator payouts. Fansly's getting-started guide says payouts usually show on bank statements as "SELECT MEDIA LLC", though this can vary by region and payout method.
What we couldn't find is a named person behind it. Fansly hasn't publicly named its owners, and officer details for the company sit behind a login on OpenCorporates. Any site naming "the owner of Fansly" as a person is going beyond the public record.
We also found no publicly announced outside funding. If you're new to the platform itself, start with what Fansly is and how it works.
Select Media LLC: the key facts
Here's what Maryland business records (via OpenCorporates) and the USPTO show about the company:
| Fact | What the record says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Legal name | SELECT MEDIA LLC | Maryland records |
| Entity type | Maryland limited liability company | Maryland records, USPTO |
| Maryland company number | W20313870 | Maryland records |
| Formed | Articles of Organization filed February 20, 2020 | Maryland records |
| Status | Active | Maryland records |
| Registered address | 145 W Ostend St, Ste 600, Baltimore, MD 21230 | Maryland records |
| Mailing and trademark filing address | 100 International Drive, 23rd Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202 | Maryland records, USPTO |
| Registered agent | Registered Agents Inc, Baltimore | Maryland records |
You'll notice two Baltimore addresses. The state lists one as the registered address, while the trademark filings and the state's mailing address use the other. Neither record calls its address a head office, so we don't either.
Fansly trademark registrations
Select Media LLC owns both registered Fansly trademarks, according to USPTO records for the word mark and the logo:
| Mark | Serial no. | Filed | Registered | Reg. no. | Claimed first use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FANSLY (word mark) | 97489329 | July 5, 2022 | August 11, 2026 | 8387323 | January 4, 2021 |
| Fansly logo (stylized heart with concentric circles) | 97489330 | July 5, 2022 | December 5, 2023 | 7233538 | January 22, 2021 |
Both marks cover three classes: 035 (online marketplace for audio and visual content), 041 (adult-themed entertainment website services) and 045 (online social networking). The word mark registration is recent, so older articles about Fansly's ownership predate it.
When did Fansly start?
Select Media LLC was formed in 2020, and Fansly was live by early 2021. The company filed its Articles of Organization on February 20, 2020. A 2021 MEL Magazine feature reported that Fansly's Twitter account was created in November 2020. The same piece said the site "didn't begin growing until early 2021".
The trademark filings line up with that. They claim first use of the Fansly name on January 4, 2021, and of the logo on January 22, 2021.
What happened to Fansly in 2021?
Fansly's breakout came in August 2021. OnlyFans announced a ban on sexually explicit content that it suspended days later. Fansly saw a surge in creator applications, according to its CEO. Here's the timeline, with each event attributed to its source:
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| August 19, 2021 | OnlyFans announced a ban on "sexually explicit" content from October 1, 2021, citing banks and payment providers | NBC News |
| August 19 and 20, 2021 | Fansly's CEO reported a 50x overnight jump in applications and support inquiries, then "1000x" the next day | NOW Toronto |
| By August 21, 2021 | MEL reported 2.1 million Fansly users | MEL Magazine |
| August 25, 2021 | OnlyFans "suspended" the change after assurances from its banking partners | TechCrunch |
Fansly's CEO also told NOW Toronto that the company had hired more than 80 new staff. MEL also reported that "at one point" Fansly saw 4,000 new sign-ups an hour. Treat all of these growth figures as 2021 claims reported by the press, not audited numbers.
Because Fansly grew so fast during OnlyFans' turmoil, the two names often appear together, which may feed the ownership confusion.
Is Fansly owned by OnlyFans?
No. Fansly and OnlyFans are separate companies. OnlyFans' own terms name Fenix International Limited as its operator. Fansly's trademarks belong to Select Media LLC, and Fansly has said it's owned by Select Media.
If you're choosing between the two platforms, our Fansly vs OnlyFans comparison looks at both from a creator's and an agency's point of view. For a wider view, see our list of sites like Fansly.
Common wrong answers about who owns Fansly
Many wrong answers trace back to copied pages, stale reporting or user-edited profiles. Wikipedia no longer has a Fansly article, and many sites now repeat each other. Here's how the common claims and questions hold up:
| Claim or question you'll see | What the record shows |
|---|---|
| Cyan Stages Inc., of Cheyenne, Wyoming | We found no official source for this. Fansly's 2024 statement and the USPTO's 2026 registration both name Select Media LLC. |
| An Israel-based company with the same name | Fansly's February 2024 post said that company, and the CEO quoted about it, weren't affiliated with Fansly. |
| Fansly is owned by OnlyFans | A common question, but no. OnlyFans' terms name Fenix International Limited as its operator. Fansly's trademarks belong to Select Media LLC. |
| A specific named person | Fansly hasn't publicly named its owners. |
| "CY Media LTD" of Cyprus | Reported in 2021 but never confirmed by Fansly. See below. |
What about the Cyprus company?
A 2021 MEL Magazine report also linked a Cyprus company to Fansly, which it called CY Media LTD of Kamares. Cyprus records, via OpenCorporates, show a company named CY Select Media Ltd in Kamares, Larnaca. Its registration documents are dated May 7, 2021.
Fansly has never named that company, and neither has the USPTO record. So its link to Fansly is unconfirmed. Treat any article presenting it as a co-owner with caution.
How to verify who owns Fansly yourself
You don't have to take our word for any of this. The core ownership facts are all public, and here's how to check them:
- Check the trademark record. Open the USPTO's TSDR status page for serial 97489329, the FANSLY word mark. The owner field names Select Media LLC.
- Look up the company. Search Maryland company number W20313870 on OpenCorporates or Maryland's own business records. Check the status, formation date and addresses.
- Read Fansly's own statement. Its February 2024 post on X names Select Media as the owner.
- Check your payouts. If you're a creator, your bank statement should usually show "SELECT MEDIA LLC" next to Fansly deposits.
- Ask for the source. If a site names a different owner, look for a filing or a Fansly statement behind it. No source means the claim is unverified.
Knowing who runs a platform is only one part of judging it. Our guide to whether Fansly is safe covers security and legitimacy in more depth.
What the payout descriptor tells creators
If you're a Fansly creator, a "SELECT MEDIA LLC" deposit is most likely a Fansly payout. That's the company that holds the trademarks and that Fansly named in 2024. Match it against your payout requests to be sure.
It also matters for your books. In agencies I've worked with, deposits under an unfamiliar company name were a regular month-end headache. Once you've matched them, tell your bookkeeper or accountant that those SELECT MEDIA LLC deposits are Fansly earnings. They'll want to know how to record them, and that's their call, not ours.
A few limits are worth knowing. Fansly says the descriptor can vary by region and payout method, and it doesn't list the variations. The label doesn't tell you which payout request a deposit belongs to. Fansly also doesn't say what fans see on their card statements.
For timing, minimums and methods, see our guide to Fansly payout methods and timing.
Reconciling Select Media deposits across creator accounts
If you manage several creators, their bank accounts usually all show deposits under the same SELECT MEDIA LLC name. That descriptor alone won't tell you which account or payout request a deposit belongs to. Matching them by hand gets slow as the roster grows.
Our Fansly API, an independent tool not affiliated with Fansly or Select Media LLC, pulls payout data from the creator accounts you connect:
- List Payout Requests returns each request's amount, status and timestamps, so you can match deposits by amount and date.
- List Wallet Transactions lets you review wallet activity on each connected account.
- Get Pending Earnings shows what's still inside the 7-day pending window.
- The
fansly.payouts.updatedwebhook alerts you when a payout updates, so you're not checking by hand.
One limit to plan around: the API docs don't expose the payer name, bank descriptor or legal entity behind a payout. Reconcile on amount and date, not on the "SELECT MEDIA LLC" label.