Sweden’s parliament has passed a law amendment criminalizing buying and commissioning sex acts remotely, raising the prospect of live porn cam and OnlyFans users facing prison for paying for online sexual interactions.
The move was condemned by the European Sex Workers Rights Alliance as placing sex workers under greater risk of “precarity and surveillance”. The organization accused lawmakers of being dismissive of sex worker testimonies.
Under the law amendment, illegally buying sexual services in Sweden now includes giving money to people for sex acts remotely, essentially making watching live porn cams illegal. The law is designed to place focus on sex service buyers rather than sex workers, with the crime of buying a sex act punishable by up to one year in prison.
The amendments to the law will come into effect on July 1, 2025, and was was passed with a large parliamentary majority. Social Democrat MP Teresa Carvalho said of online sex work: “This is a new form of sex purchase, and it’s high time we modernise the legislation to include digital platforms.”
Carbalho added: “We know that behind the new sex industry, hidden behind screens, styled in filters and packaged as ‘freedom’, there is a dark reality.”
In an email shared with Newsweek, The European Sex Worker Rights Alliance said: “The law, passed despite overwhelming opposition from sex workers, academics, digital rights organizations and international human rights bodies, will push sex workers, especially migrants, LGBTQIA+ people and women, further into precarity and surveillance.”
The Alliance added that the amended law “expands the definition of ‘pimping’ to include online facilitation and fails to clearly distinguish between consensual adult content and exploitation.”
Authorities in Sweden have not said how they will enforce the law, and could face challenges when attempting to crack down on behavior taking place via private messages or video streams. The onus of implementation may be placed on tech companies and platforms that facilitate online sex work.
Before the law amendment was passed, a Sweden-based adult content creator who performs under the name Cara told XBiz that: “If this law takes effect, we stand to lose our entire livelihoods overnight as platforms are forced to exclude Swedish creators.”
Cara added: “Lawmakers claim this is meant to protect us, but how is forcing us into poverty, isolation and legal jeopardy a form of protection?”
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