Latest news with #Moderate
Gulf Insider
12-07-2025
- Business
- Gulf Insider
Sweden Cracks Down On OnlyFans - Users Face Up To A Year In Prison For Paying For Online Sexual Content
The X-rated social media platform OnlyFans is experiencing real growth, with revenue, content, and user numbers all on the rise. The site's over 4 million 'creators' sell content – including images, videos, and personalized chats – to more than 300 million subscribers, or 'fans.' It's primarily a sex site, and claims that the platform isn't powered by porn are usually accompanied by winks and nods to the contrary. OnlyFans keeps a 20% cut of what users pay, boasting $1.3 billion of revenue in 2023. It's a lucrative approach to monetizing porn consumption, but the platform just hit a legal roadblock in a seemingly unlikely country. Sweden, which in 1971 became the second country in the world to formally legalize all forms of pornography, has not been as soft on prostitution. In 1999, the country criminalized the purchase of sex, but not the sale, in efforts to protect vulnerable women from facing stiff legal consequences. That policy will now apply to the virtual world. As of July 1, Swedes could face up to a year in prison for paying someone for personalized online sexual services, including sexting and video content. The new law also criminalizes promoting or profiting from others who perform sex acts for payment on demand, forcing OnlyFans to pull out of Sweden. In a country known for libertines more than prudes, the law passed with broad, cross-party support. 'The idea is that anyone who buys sexual acts performed remotely should be penalized in the same way as those who buy sexual acts involving physical contact,' said Gunnar Strommer, Sweden's Justice Minister and a member of the Moderate party. The U.S. has drawn a harder line on in-person prostitution than Sweden. Excluding certain counties in Nevada, it is illegal to both buy and sell sex in America. But OnlyFans – which exploded in the U.S. during the pandemic – remains legal in all 50 states, allowing Fenix International Limited, the London-based firm that owns OnlyFans, to profit from the sale of millions of sext messages and live video chats. A growing number of bipartisan lawmakers are citing concerns about the role of social media in online sex trafficking. Some are calling out OnlyFans by name. 'Americans are being sexually exploited on OnlyFans,' said U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, a Missouri Republican. 'Congress and federal law enforcement must do more.' In 2018, Wagner sponsored the FOSTA-SESTA Act, which Donald Trump signed into law. The bill gave federal and state prosecutors more authority to go after websites on which sex is sold, even holding platforms and Internet service providers responsible for user-generated ads related to sex work. But the FOSTA-SESTA Act mostly targets traffickers who use the internet as a recruitment or facilitating tool, whereas Sweden's law prohibits the purchase of virtual prostitution (that is, paying for sex from sex workers who provide their services in the virtual space) as well as profiting from virtual prostitution. With Trump back in office, Wagner and like-minded lawmakers appear eager to enact stricter regulations. If Sweden's new law were replicated in the U.S., OnlyFans' earnings would plummet. Roughly a quarter of the site's content creators are American women, and nearly two-thirds of the platform's revenue is generated in the U.S., according to the most recent data. Many sex workers say that criminalizing online prostitution is illogical because it will only result in women working in more dangerous in-person settings. A number of human rights organizations also argue that prostitution should be legalized because it grants sex workers greater access to legal protection and healthcare while also helping law enforcement better differentiate between the consenting and the coerced. Some European governments agree, including Belgium, which last December granted sex workers formal labor rights, entitling them to sick leave, maternity pay, and pensions. Some are unionizing, and many more are opting to ditch the brothel scene and work from home. As for trafficking, OnlyFans argues that they have invested in AI tools and ID verification systems to ensure that only of-age, consenting adults are participating on the site. It is true that OnlyFans has invested more into such measures than most other social media platforms or porn sites. But despite these filters, there are still reports of abuse and trafficking occurring on the site, which OnlyFans says is the result of only a few bad apples. Many industry advocates say that lawmakers seeking to regulate the online sex trade are simply anti-porn religious zealots. But few U.S. lawmakers are signing on with Utah Senator Mike Lee, who is currently on his third attempt since 2022 to ban pornography nationwide. Rather, most speak of the issue in terms of the need to curb trafficking – mirroring the narrative of many Swedish lawmakers. Sanna Backeskog, a Swedish politician and proponent of the recent law, insists she has no interest in being the porn police. She said, 'This is about digitalized prostitution, where the boundaries between pornography and human trafficking are blurred.' As lawmakers in the U.S. and Europe seek to clarify those blurred boundaries, some say Sweden is on the right track, that regulations will curb demand, and trafficking will go down. Others say the law will only make things worse as more prostitutes revert to doing their work in the dark. The appetite for online sexual interactions is growing, and OnlyFans is reportedly on sale for $8 billion. The platform's current owners hope that nations (especially the U.S.) won't mimic Sweden's recent law. After all, how else would OnlyFans continue to flourish in such a hot market?
Sky News AU
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Embattled NSW Liberal committee undergoes major shake-up, as moderates reassert dominance whilst fending off unexpected bid from Tony Abbott
The beleaguered NSW Liberal state committee has been purged, with ex-Victorian Senator Richard Alston and former Victorian treasurer Alan Stockdale dumped as administrators of the branch after a string controversies and gaffes. The federal executive met on Tuesday afternoon and voted 20 votes to one on the new leadership panel proposed by federal Liberal leader Sussan Ley and her NSW counterpart Mark Speakman. The meeting concluded that the bruised division would remain in administration until next March with former NSW Premier Nick Greiner installed as the independent chair to oversee the seven-person state executive committee for the next nine months. Ms Ley selected former state MP Peta Seaton as her delegate on the committee, while Mr Speakman appointed barrister and outspoken moderate Jane Buncle. It is also understood that multiple members of the NSW right faction lobbied for former Prime Minister Tony Abbott to be appointed to the committee, however the move was resoundingly voted down by the executive. The meeting's rejection of Abbott's bid resulted in a tense factional dispute between moderates and the right. Numerous Liberal right figures labelled the new group the "committee of management" and attacked party bosses for establishing an executive stacked with staunch social moderates and soft-right forces led by factional leader federal MP Alex Hawke. One anonymous conservative Liberal described the outcome as a "Hawke/Moderate intervention' and told The Daily Telegraph, 'their mission will be to prevent reform from happening.' 'If the rules of the party mean that Hawke and the Moderates are always in charge, what incentive do they have to change the rules?' The new committee will include Mark Baillie who will serve as treasurer, James Owen, Peter O'Hanlon and Berenice Walker who is also the President of the NSW Women's Council. The result means that Victorian Liberal elders Alan Stockdale and Richard Alston will be axed as interim administrators, after former federal Liberal leader Peter Dutton announced a 10-month takeover of the NSW branch and installed a three-person oversight panel due to the 2024 council nomination blunder. Mr Stockdale's tenure was viewed as unsustainable by a myriad of NSW Liberal figures after the veteran politician stated at a gathering of the NSW Liberal Women's Council that women had become 'sufficiently assertive' and that reverse quotas for men were needed. Multiple Liberal insiders told the Sydney Morning Herald Mr Stockdale was vocal in his opposition of Ms Walker being appointed to the committee. Ms Walker had previously railed against the party's direction under Mr Stockdale's leadership, with the women's council passing a motion on May 25 conveying their 'firm and formal opposition to any extension of the federal intervention'. Ms Seaton was the only member of the interim panel who survived the restructure. The singular vote against Ley and Speakman's committee was Charlie Taylor, the brother of shadow defence minister Angus Taylor who recently lost the Liberal leadership ballot, Liberal sources told the Sydney Morning Herald. A Liberal source told the Daily Telegraph that NSW members had 'reclaimed the party back from Victoria'. 'The Victorian division is sinking fast and we want nothing to do with that Titanic,' the unnamed source added. The meeting also appointed former NSW state minister Pru Goward and former federal minister and factional powerbroker Nick Minchin to lead a review into the Liberal's thumping 2025 federal election defeat. Ms Goward and Mr Minchin are set to investigate the Coalition's tumultuous election campaign and the last term of parliament under former opposition leader Peter Dutton and provide recommendations about how the party can best reclaim the litany of seats lost to both the Teals and the Labor Party. They are also expected to scrutinise the centralised nature of Liberal campaign HQ in the lead-up to the election, of which numerous Coalition figures have spoken out against since the overwhelming defeat.
Daily Mail
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
The European country that has cut asylum claims by reversing liberal policies in ten-year migrant crackdown amid wave of gang crime and lack of integration
In 2014, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt pleaded with his nation to 'open your hearts' to refugees arriving the country. Reinfeldt took a careful tone as he asked the Swedish people to 'have patience with what is about to happen', acknowledging concern over the rising numbers of people seeking asylum, mainly from war-torn Syria and Afghanistan. 'When people flee to Sweden in very large numbers, it creates friction in Swedish society because a lot more come than we have planned for', he recognised, adding that such movements would carry 'substantial costs' affecting public finances. Reinfeldt's speech made a moral case for wider integration, an argument widely espoused by moderate parties. But voters were largely uninspired. A month later, his liberal-conservative coalition lost the election. A decade on, Sweden's Moderate government has recalibrated its message. Today, the government boasts of achieving 'net negative immigration', winning support from the hard right for audacious policies that encourage 'snitching' on undocumented workers and championing a reversal that has seen accepted asylum applications drop to a forty-year low. The government has sought to introduce mandatory language and integration tests for anyone seeking citizenship, made it easier to revoke residency permits and in some cases confined those not qualifying for residency to special centres. The change reflects a wider shift in European priorities, with moderates hoping to fend off the rise of far right populism by coopting their narratives on migration. Sweden's government, forced to reconcile with a wave of gang crime and poorly implemented integration policies, has shown one of the most stunning reversals on asylum, abandoning its moral arguments for cold hard statistics. Counter-protesters throw stones in the park Sveaparken in Orebro, south-centre Sweden on April 15, 2022, where Danish far-right party Stram Kurs had permission for a square meeting on Good Friday Sweden welcomed 163,000 asylum seekers in 2015, joining Germany and its Scandinavian neighbours in a unified moral response to the 'migrant crisis'. Per capita, it was the highest number of any EU country at the time. Many of those refugees, often from Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, settled in public housing blocks built through the 1960s and 1970s to address a wider shortage of quality, affordable housing. All of Sweden's municipalities were obligated to accept refugees. But the country underwent a process of de facto segregation as Swedes moved out of the public housing clusters and asylum seekers moved in. This presented a challenge. Liberal-minded Swedes argued that accepting refugees was the right thing to do. The country was wealthy and had the means to accommodate people fleeing persecution and war. But a lack of consolidated policy on how to integrate these communities saw vulnerable groups ultimately presented as a strain on public resources. Areas housing large numbers of refugees became associated with high levels of crime and unemployment. The government has responded in recent years by seeking evidence of language ability and integration before qualifying for citizenship. Tensta, a suburb of Stockholm, exemplified the challenges of integration. The district was built to address a housing crisis in the latter half of the 20th century. In 2018, 90 per cent of residents were from a foreign background. Four in five people lived on welfare benefits or low incomes, and violence was rife. 'As in many other immigrant suburbs, Tensta's youth are often caught between two worlds: the traditions of their parents who immigrated to Sweden and modern Swedish culture,' assessed Interpeace in its 'Voices from Tensta' report, noting the challenges of integration. 'Navigating the complexities of being a young person, an immigrant and a Swede is not easy for many of them. Despite the challenges of forming their identity, young people from Tensta have developed a strong bond with their district. They spoke passionately about Tensta as a multicultural and community-based area.' But with limited opportunities for work or education, people moving to the region appear more vulnerable to being exploited by criminals or being recruited into a life of crime. Locals allege gangs have opportunistically moved in to extort protection money from residents, bringing drugs and gun crime to the area. In 2016, 16 people were killed in the district, mostly in drug-related conflicts. As one Redditor put it in 2020, responding to 'Is Tensta safe to live in?': 'One one hand, it is one of the worst neighbourhoods in Sweden. On the other hand, by International standards that's still pretty ok.' The rising influence of gangs, endemic in areas blighted by poverty, has seen an uptick in violence and spurred demand for a tougher line on crime. Police say gangs have started using social media platforms as 'digital marketplaces' to openly recruit children, some as young as 11, to commit murders and bombings. Inexperienced teenagers, seen as expendable by the gangs, are easier for police to catch than those ordering the shootings. Mafia groups abroad have called the country a 'haven' for their activities, while crime groups have infiltrated business sectors and found ways to smuggle military-grade weapons into the country. In 2023, 53 people were killed in shootings across Sweden, home to around 10.5 million people. In 2022, that figure stood at 62 - and Stockholm's per-capita murder rate was roughly 30 times that of London's. The government of Sweden addresses 'simplistic' narratives on this issue with reference to a literature review, which found that low education and a lack of employment 'seem to contribute to a higher level of crime among people with foreign background'. 'Factors such as war traumas, mental illness and the level of crime, conflict and economic development in the country of origin might also be factors that contribute to explain some of the differences.' The problem is complex and multifaceted. Women from Afghanistan, for example, where the Taliban has banned secondary education for women and girls, will struggle to integrate into the Swedish job market, and development programmes have done little to alleviate the strain. Ninety-five per cent of new jobs in the country required at least a secondary education, The Economist observed in its commentary in 2017. Without a structured plan to ensure these women are able to return to education, there is little hope for them to find true integration and acceptance. A 2021 study, based on interviews with Afghan women who moved to Sweden as unaccompanied refugees, highlighted some of the other challenges: an inner conflict between wanting to integrate and feeling pressured to uphold home customs; the language barrier; and missing family and loneliness. One said: 'In my home country, girls can't always go to school. I remember when I was a kid, I was always told that girls don't have to go to school. But when I came to Sweden, I heard quite the opposite, that it is great that girls go to school and educate themselves.' Another said: 'I would like to tell other unaccompanied girls that they should study and not just settle for a job at, for example, the home care service. And they should not think too much about getting married. 'There are plenty of opportunities in Sweden they should use. It's important for girls who come to Sweden alone to study so that they can gain a high position in society.' Teachers and social workers can make a world of difference in helping asylum seekers to integrate. But these lifelines are costly and finite. The far right were among the first to capitalise on these issues, gaining ground by highlighting problems linked to immigration. In turn, the Left and centre started to echo their fears. Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson conceded in August 2022 that Sweden didn't need more 'Somalitowns' or 'Little Italies' - words that would have been unthinkable in the milieu of Fredrik Reinfeldt's 'open hearts' campaign. Months before, she had lamented how 'segregation' in such communities had created 'parallel in different realities'. Integration had been 'too poor, at the same time as we have experienced very substantial levels of immigration' she said, admitting 'society has been too weak, resources for the police and social services have been too weak'. The political urgency changed with the 2022 election. Reforms came thick and fast after the Moderates formed a government by striking a deal with the Sweden Democrats, giving the conservative party significant influence over crime and immigration policies. Family reunifications have been tightened, residency permits are more easily revoked, and asylum rights have been slashed to the bare minimum allowed under EU law. Immigrants who do not qualify for residency are being urged to return home, with some placed under electronic surveillance or confined to special centres. Sweden's immigration policy has undergone a seismic shift, abandoning its once open-handed approach in favour of stricter rules and a focus on control. The government is now steering away from traditional asylum status and pushing more migrants into the weaker 'subsidiary protection' category. This status, unlike full asylum, requires renewal every 13 months and only extends beyond three years for those who can prove they are financially independent. The challenges of integration have moved the Overton window. Sooner than taking the expensive - and potentially vote-costing - route of crafting better policy, Left wing and centrist parties today have quietly dropped their moral arguments in favour of talk of a 'strict migration policy'. Migration Minister Johan Forssell, sharing how asylum-related residence permits had fallen to a 40-year low earlier this year, told The Times: 'We are implementing what we describe as a paradigm shift in Swedish migration policy, and we are doing this with a very outspoken agenda that we want to limit the number of people seeking asylum here in Sweden'. He explained that the move does not mean that the country does not like migrants, or understand the situation they face, but because it is 'impossible' to manage the task of integration when there is such a huge influx each year. 'What happened during the refugee crisis was that all these very nice words, all this open-heart policy, met a very tough reality,' Mr Forssell added. Mr Forssell has made no apologies for the hardline approach and, speaking candidly, revealed that the goal is to return to a pre-1970s immigration model, prioritising skilled 'guest workers' and limiting asylum to only those with indisputable claims. 'We're going back to basics,' he explained, adding that restricting family reunification has already delivered results. The minister also said he wanted to introduce mandatory language and integration tests for anyone seeking Swedish citizenship. For decades, Sweden was one of the most welcoming countries in Europe to migrants seeking refuge.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Yahoo
One killed after colliding with stopped semi on I-15 in Springville
SPRINGVILLE, Utah () — One man is dead after crashing into the back of a semi-truck on I-15 near Springville on Tuesday night. Lt. Cameron Roden confirmed with that the crash happened around 10:15 p.m. on southbound I-15 near mile marker 262. The semi-truck reportedly had engine problems and was stopped in the right-most lane with its lights and hazard flashers on. While crews were responding to assist the semi-truck, a white Kia Soul reportedly collided with the back of the semi. Lt. Roden said the driver and lone occupant of the Kia Soul died on the scene. The victim has only been identified as a 39-year-old man. An investigation into the crash is still ongoing and no further details were provided. Investigation underway after 'incident' between suspect and Utah conservation officer Moderate Republicans draw red line on Medicaid cuts in Trump agenda bill One killed after colliding with stopped semi on I-15 in Springville One last day of above-average warmth before valley rain, mountain snow Jan. 6 defendants, allies vexed with Trump admin Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Local Sweden
10-04-2025
- Business
- Local Sweden
How far-reaching are the government's proposals to reform free schools?
Sweden's education minister Johan Pehrson has promised that the reforms to the free school system announced this week will see "stock market wheeler-dealers" being "thrown head first" out of the education sector. How far-reaching are the reforms really? Advertisement What's the background to the free school inquiry? The inquiry was initially launched in June 2022 by the former Social Democrat government, which appointed Johan Ernestam, a former research officer for the Swedish Teacher's union, as chair. The initial remit was to "ensure that tax money that is apportioned to schools is used for what the funds are intended for, for example financing the operations of the school". Advertisement But the current Moderate-led government in July 2023 changed the inquiry's remit from investigating a ban on extracting profits (vinstförbud) to investigating ways to limit the extraction of profits (vinstbegränsning). To do this, it recommended that the inquiry investigate "increased checks on owners and leaderships", "certain bans on withdrawing profits", and "stricter sanctions". In February this year the government replaced Ernestam with Joakim Stymne, a veteran Moderate party official and civil servant. What did Stymne recommend? The report of the inquiry into stricter requirements for the school sector is extremely detailed, containing more than 30 proposals and weighing 1.2 kilograms. It recommended, among other measures: requiring companies running schools to maintain separate accounts, särredovisning, for each individual school or preschool, to make it easier for regulators and the public to track how the municipal money provided per pupil (skolpeng) is used for each individual school or preschool, to make it easier for regulators and the public to track how the municipal money provided per pupil (skolpeng) is used banning companies who launch a new school or buy an existing one from withdrawing profits for the first five years empowering the state to require, if it chooses, schools to prove they have not distributed profits to their owners in the previous year if they want to be eligible for a targeted government grant to increase quality, and also to require that schools account for how such grant money is used empowering the Swedish Schools Inspectorate to impose a ban on those operating a free school from withdrawing profits from a school (värdeöverföringsförbud) if it identifies "one or more deficiencies that seriously hinder the students' ability to achieve educational goals". Advertisement What did the inquiry chief and Sweden's education minister say at the launch? In a debate article in the Dagens Nyheter newspaper, Stymne said that he believed the proposals, if enacted, would increase the quality of the free school sector, driving out the more unscrupulous profit-seekers. "I believe that there will continue to be a variety of operators who want to run schools. Making a profit will not be prohibited," he said. "However, running school operations will not be attractive to those who primarily want to pocket the school fees." Education minister Johan Pehrson decried the "the widespread naivety around free schools", which he said had even come from within his own party, and declared that "stock market wheeler-dealers" would be "thrown head first" out of the education sector. What did the free schools say? The companies running free schools have expressed outrage, with Andreas Mörck, director of the trade group Almega Utbildning, saying the proposals were a "witch-hunt" which he said threatened the continued existence of free schools. He said the bans on extracting profits in the three listed situations would "hit small schools which already have thin margins particularly hard", and argued the proposal that schools receiving state grants should not be able to extract profits "in practice meant the forced shutdown" of some small schools, which depended on such grants for 10 percent of their income. The Internationella Engelska Skolan chain's head of public affairs, Linda Öholm, complained that the accounting requirements would make it hard to cross-subsidise schools in less wealthy municipalities, meaning well-functioning schools would be "cut off at the knees'. Advertisement What did critics of free schools say? Opposition parties and campaigners against the free school system were also critical. The Centre Party's Niels Paarup-Petersen said he believed the free school companies' criticisms were part play-acting. "I don't think it's very real," he told The Local. "The part about them getting less government funding is real because that will be detrimental to their overall budget. But the rest of it shouldn't be a big problem for the big companies. Most of it will hardly have any effect at all." The Social Democrats' education spokesperson, Åsa Westlund, also said she didn't expect it to transform the sector. "Even with these proposals, it will still be possible to use school money for waffle stalls instead of for students' education. So it is far from enough to address the profiteering in Swedish schools," she told the Altinget news site. "The school companies are benefiting both because they are not proposing a total ban on extracting profits, but also because it will be harder to start schools, which will mean fewer new competitors." Marcus Larsson, a campaigner against free schools with the think-tank Balans, said that while many of the proposals were positive, they did not go far enough. "This is like filling in some of the cracks with plaster rather than renovating the whole system," he said. "It's still going to be a market and there are still going to be participants in this market who are there to take advantage of the potential for over-compensation which the state allows in Sweden. So this doesn't change anything actually when it comes to incentives for companies."
