WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — iFriends.net announced today that it has decided to wind down its adult cam network.
Launched on Valentine's Day in 1998, iFriends was an early adopter of adult cam technology, attracting through the years millions of users and offering a safe, reliable community for its models.
iFriends operators said that while the site has been taken offline, all continuation of payments and reserve releases to both cam hosts and marketing partners will continue as normal until those obligations are satisfied.
“Rest assured that the professionalism, integrity and dependability for which we are known remains very much online,” the company said. “Our longtime support staff — known to many of you already — remain gainfully and securely employed (under long-term employment contracts) and will continue to remain available to you in the months ahead.
“If you still have any links or traffic that is directed to the iFriends platform, we recommend you close or change those links, as these are no longer productive,” the company said.
Consumers who used the service and paid a monthly membership will receive refunds.
iFriends was widely recognized as the gold standard for online chat. For 20 years, more than 100,000 hosts, 10,000 marketing partners and millions of users paired up with the site.
“We are proud of what we have all accomplished, working together,” the company said. “With more than 10 million registered members to the hardworking people behind iFriends itself, we have brought smiles, success and friendship into each other's lives.
“But much can change in 20 years. In 2018 alone, the FCC-mandated demise of net neutrality, new legislative developments out of Washington D.C., and certain costly patent litigation efforts have further transformed the business landscape in which we operate.
“So, it is with some regret — but also with an enormous sense of pride and gratitude in what we have all achieved together — that we elect to use this 20-year anniversary milestone as a natural and organic moment to discontinue the platform, and to express our gratitude to you for 20 years of fellowship, support and for being our 'iFriends.'
“As we wind down the service in an orderly and responsible manner, it is at this harmonious juncture that we say to our iFriends, we are hereby closed for business."