“She didn’t think about us as real people or about sex work as a real job,” OnlyFans user Erika Heidewald said at the time. She also accused Thorne of scamming people, as the actor’s ‘nude’ photo turned out to be a lingerie shot, similar to images shared on her Instagram. Heidewald stated that this can lead to “the spread of a dangerous and unfair stereotype that sex workers are scammers”. Although Thorne apologised, asserting that she “wanted to bring attention to the site… to normalise the stigmas”, she later caused more controversy by claiming that she was the “first” to join OnlyFans.