OnlyFans users in Sweden could potentially face prison under a new law.

Sweden’s parliament passed a law that prohibits the purchase of sexual acts online.

The law treats paying for online sex shows the same as paying a prostitute for sex.

“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, according to the New York Post.

Sweden just made OnlyFans essentially illegal by banning the purchase of sexual acts online. Is Sweden becoming based?https://t.co/4gI7wEB6c0

— Chris Tomlinson (@TomlinsonCJ) May 20, 2025

From the New York Post:

Under the new law, it will be illegal to pay someone to carry out a sexual act remotely — such as on a live video stream — for the specific purpose of that act being viewed by the buyer.

The law targets live, specially-commissioned interactions — which are especially lucrative and popular among many porn stars on online platforms.

Watching and paying for pre-recorded adult content will remain legal.

Carvalho, who is part of Sweden’s left-wing opposition party, the Social Democrats, said the law is not aimed at targeting OnlyFans models themselves.

Instead, she said it will protect young people and other individuals vulnerable to exploitation.

She pointed to links between online exploitation and grooming with drug abuse, human trafficking, and prostitution.

The bill was proposed by the Swedish parliament’s justice committee and received cross-party backing.

Sweden bans paid online sexual acts in law targeting platforms like OnlyFans: The new law criminalises paid online sexual services, including cam shows and sex chats. https://t.co/OqrUmNsOJ7 pic.twitter.com/CfEQaxsPez

— Euractiv (@Euractiv) May 20, 2025

Per USA TODAY:

The law does, however, allow users to watch and pay for pre-recorded sexual material or live streams that they have not requested.

“This is about digitalized prostitution, where the boundaries between pornography and human trafficking are blurred but where exploitation and abuse are present,” TT news agency quoted Social Democrat lawmaker Sanna Backeskog saying during the parliamentary debate over the law.

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OnlyFans is an adults-only website that allows anyone from celebrities and porn stars to aspiring influencers to sell sexually explicit videos of themselves.

Created in 2016, it has hundreds of millions of users, with top earners making millions of dollars a year.

The platform is restricted or banned in some countries, including Turkey.

A spokeswoman for OnlyFans said the company “complies with all laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which it operates.”