Sweden has passed a new law that could land any number of prospective OnlyFans users in prison.
OnlyFans, the content creation site primarily known for its pornographic material, is apparently not the target of this new law — but the new bill seems almost tailor-made for one of the platform’s more lucrative options.
As the New York Post put it, Sweden’s new law will treat the act of buying online sex shows the same as purchasing a prostitute, which is illegal in the country.
Both will now be punishable by up to a year in prison.
“This is a new form of sex purchase, and it’s high time we modernize the legislation to include digital platforms,” Swedish member of parliament Teresa Carvalho said after the bill passed, per the Post.
The law “also criminalizes profiting from or promoting others who perform sexual acts for payment on demand,” the outlet added.
Carvalho said that the highly lucrative OnlyFans was not the target of this law.
Rather, the law was primarily meant to protect younger people and children from potential exploitation.
Despite those stated intentions, others disagreed with the bill, which received bipartisan support.
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Netzpolitik.org noted that some don’t feel the bill does enough to address potential safety concerns for pornographic content creators.
Sweden has largely received praise from progressives for its handling of prostitution.
As described by LA Weekly, Sweden’s philosophy on the issue can effectively be distilled to punishing the buyer, not the performer.
This new bill appeared to be a slight expansion on that maxim, given that promoters can be punished too.
Of note, pre-recorded pornography is still legal for purchase in Sweden.
While Sweden’s approach to the issue earns some kudos, the pornography industry still has a seedy underbelly that no amount of government regulation — short of outright banning it — can adequately address.
Pornography — again, OnlyFans’ bread and butter — has long had deep and sordid ties to horrific sex trafficking allegations.
Beyond those concerns, as Science magazine observed, there’s a strong correlation between porn consumption and divorce.
The outlet noted that men’s chances of divorce double if they watch porn in a marriage, while a woman’s chances triple.
Sweden’s new law goes into effect on July 1.
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