Adult content creators warn new Swedish law ‘takes away safest option'

Euronews

22-06-2025

A new law in Sweden that makes it illegal to buy custom adult content will take effect on July 1. But the content creators say it makes their profession more dangerous.
The new updated legislation makes it so anyone who purchases online sexual content (sexual acts performed remotely with no ty physical contact) or operates a website that makes it easier to get in touch with adult content creators could be imprisoned for up to one year.
Sweden's updated laws are the latest in a series of restrictions to digital porn, like France's age verification law that saw Pornhub temporarily stop operations there, the US' Take it Down Act or the EU's directive to ban sexual deepfakes by 2027.
'The idea is that anyone who buys sexual acts performed remotely should be penalised in the same way as those who buy sexual acts involving physical contact,' Gunnar Strommer, Sweden's Justice Minister, told the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.
Swedish adult content creators told Euronews Next that the government should reconsider the new law because it could push some of them to more unsafe types of content creation.
'This is just the beginning'
Amanda Breden is a Swedish online adult content creator who's been using online platforms such as OnlyFans for her business, amassing roughly 33,000 followers over the last four years there.
Her business model includes a subscription-based channel where, for $10 (over r€8) a month, users can get access to a large collection of adult images and photos that she's created. Her second free channel generates income through custom content requests that she gets through direct messages (DMs) from fans.
The channel is also something that her husband Max works on, doing the accounting, the payroll and the camerawork.
'The [Swedish] law doesn't just affect me as a creator - it takes away the freedom to do what we want with our own lives,' she told Euronews Next.
'People may not realise that this is just the beginning,.' she added.
Euronews Next reached out to OnlyFans and Pornhub, two major online platforms for adult content. Both said they would comply with the laws in Sweden but did not elaborate on how they would.
OnlyFans has less than 45 million monthly users in the EU, according to the latest transparency report. Pornhub sees about 26.1 million monthly users in the EU, it's website says.
'OnlyFans can save many women from the streets'
The law wouldn't affect Breden too much, she continued, because she has other streams of income, including a hotel and cafe in Sweden.
What is a concern for her is if OnlyFans starts 'blocking' Swedish creators 'because they're afraid of being sued or accused of pimping.'.
'I would actually argue that OnlyFans can save many women from the streets and from pimps who try to control them,' Breden said, noting that it lets creators choose the type of content they sell and that they are able to work from home.
Emma Larsson, an adult content creator, told the European Sex Workers Rights Alliance (ESWRA) that it would push content creators like herself into more unsafe workplaces.
'Our income will decrease so much that we'll be forced to offer services and fulfil requests we would otherwise never agree to,' she said in a pressrelease. 'This law will push us into dangerous situations and take away our safest option.'.
'A dangerous European precedent'
The idea behind Sweden's updated law, according to the government, is to 'strengthen protection against sexual harassment,' fraud against the elderly and crimes with gender as a hate crime motive.
Advocates and adult content creators say there's a general misunderstanding of the rules that platforms already have in place to curb dangerous sexual content.
OnlyFans says in it's content moderation policy that it uses a combination of human and automated filters to determine which content creators cannot be verified as over 18+, that are generated by artificial intelligence (AI), violent or extreme content, and that consent has been given, among other criteria.
'I've had several videos removed, even though they were just harmless roleplay,' Breden said. 'You're absolutely not allowed to even hint at anything that could be seen as 'forced' or similar.'.
Advocacy groups are also concerned about how the laws would be enforced.
The European Sex Workers Rights Alliance said there are risks that the police could be empowered to search phones, computers, and online accounts that are linked to the creation of online adult content.
That then raises 'serious issues around digital surveillance and privacy, especially for vulnerable groups like sex workers already facing discrimination and criminalisation.'.
'This law would set a dangerous precedent across Europe,' the press release reads.
If the government is concerned about safety, Breeden said the company could instead increase the age limit to 25 from 18 to access adult content sites like OnlyFans.