OnlyFans & Co.: Sweden criminalizes payment for sexual services online

The Swedish parliament has extended an existing law and made payment for remote sexual acts a criminal offense. This was reported by the news portal Euractiv, which explains that this relates to live videos on the internet, for example, where payment is also made for certain activities to be carried out in front of the camera. Platforms such as OnlyFans, on which users can pay for erotic and pornographic content, are particularly affected. The British portal has also criticized the law and referred to its own tax payments. The amendment to the law was approved by a large majority in the Riksdag, reports Dagens Nyheter.

Much criticism in the run-up

As Euractiv goes on to explain, the new regulation explicitly deals with live broadcasts and externally initiated or influenced recordings; pre-recorded videos therefore remain legal. It was proposed by Parliament's Justice Committee and was approved by all parties. The news portal quotes MP Teresa Carvalho as saying that the now punishable content is "a new form of payment for sex" and that it is high time to modernize the legislation to include the platforms. The ban is due to come into force on July 1. There had been widespread criticism of the plans in the run-up, Netzpolitik.org has compiled.

For years, Sweden has been a pioneer of the so-called Nordic model, in which it is not people who offer sexual acts that are criminalized, but their customers. Anyone who pays for a sexual service can be punished with up to one year in prison. This approach has been adopted in a number of countries and is now being extended to online services in Sweden. However, it remains unclear how it will be implemented. "I see a challenge for the police when it comes to uncovering and proving the crimes," says MP Martin Melin according to Nyheter24. He does not know how this is to be done.

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