Six Months on From Sweden’s Online Sex Ban: What’s the Impact?

Words: Amy Moretsele

On 1 July 2025, Sweden enacted an amendment to their existing criminal code regarding sex work. Since 1999 the country has operated under the end-demand model, otherwise known as the Nordic model, where clients are criminalised and sex workers themselves are decriminalised. Now, the wording of the offence of buying sexual services has changed to the offence of buying sexual acts, so that online sex work falls under its remit. 

The purchase of live cam shows, where customers attend and tip, is now illegal in Sweden. So is the purchase of ‘customs’, where people request an OnlyFans creator to make something specifically for them.

Criminalising the key selling points of these sites has made them unprofitable for many sex workers in Sweden. The rationalisation for the legislation was that these websites were leading to prostitution, which the government sees as a form of violence against women. Producing and consuming pornography remains legal, however, as it’s seen as expressive material and protected under freedom of expression laws. 

Dr Thomas Joyce is an assistant professor of criminology at the University of Tilburg with a research interest in sex work legislation. When I ask about the impact that online sex work criminalisation has had on Sweden, he said it’s too soon to tell. “It'll take a long time for people to even become aware of the law. Individual sex workers are probably having problems already, but it will really blow up when there is a major case in the news. 

“For example, if someone is dramatically evicted from their home by the landlord – it’s almost bound to happen, given that the punishment for housing someone who's producing this content is several years in prison.”
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Although the Nordic model and its online expansion aims to solely criminalise clients, when sex work in Sweden runs the risk of homelessness, it’s easy to see why sex workers themselves feel like they’re being punished or de facto criminalised.

In Sweden, during a bill’s remiss phase the government relies on several formal consultation bodies to provide policy input. Organisations run by sex workers are generally excluded from consideration as consultation bodies since sex work is not seen as a valid form of work but instead a form of victimhood. 

“What’s been hardest is that the law adds an extra layer of worry on top of an already unpredictable digital environment, making a career I’ve built over many years feel suddenly more fragile”

Dessie, 32, had been camming for two years and in the sex work industry in Sweden for eight, working as a stripper, when the law change was implemented. She got into camming after she heard a strip club colleague talking about it.

Over WhatsApp, Dessie tells me: “A few other co-workers also started doing it, so I thought I just had to try it. It was so much fun!

“I actually never had a single bad experience with it. There were always really nice people in my livestream, and some of them were so generous with the tipping. I always left the livestream happy.”

When I ask her about the impact the criminalisation has had on her, she says that losing the income she had from OnlyFans and camming has been hard. “I’m looking for other jobs because I can’t pay even half of all my bills anymore,” she said.

Dessie hasn’t been able to access the money that was left in her camming account, because it hadn’t reached the payout threshold, and she’s scared to try livestreaming again. She tells me that the change in the Swedish criminal code happened so fast that she can’t remember how it got to this point. “It feels like one day I heard about the bill, and all of a sudden it was a full-on law”, she said.

The bill was drafted at the end of 2024, proposed on 2 April 2025, voted through on 20 May and then enacted three months later. When I asked whether Dessie felt that sex worker’s voices were heard throughout this process she said, “Absolutely one hundred percent no”.

Dessie doesn’t feel safer now the bill is enacted, she said: “Now if I want to sell my videos for example, I have to do it via Snapchat or WhatsApp. And the money transfer is not safe, because they get my phone number or Paypal, and that makes it more dangerous, because all of a sudden there’s no privacy anymore, and anyone can find out where I live, call me, or find my other social media.

“Camming wasn’t one of my main sources of income, it was something I did for fun when I had the time, but it’s quite sad, and it sucks that we’re not allowed to do what we want with our bodies.

“I honestly just want them to listen to the sex workers. The people who want to be in the industry. I know human trafficking is a serious issue, but I’m not talking about them, because they did not get into this industry by their own free will.”

Amanda Breden, 33, has been creating on OnlyFans for five years following a decade-long career as a glamour model in Sweden. “At that time, the platforms and companies I worked with were much more controlled by other people, and I had limited influence over how my image and content were used,” she tells me.

“That’s one of the reasons I felt genuinely happy and empowered when OnlyFans came along. It allowed women like me to take back control, manage our own platforms, set our own boundaries, and decide for ourselves how we wanted to work — without outside interference.”

According to Amanda, most of her customers are respectful, curious, and genuinely interested in supporting creators they like. “Often, it’s less about sex and more about exclusivity, communication, and feeling seen,” she said.

OnlyFans is one of her main sources of income, but she also runs two hospitality businesses with her partner. These other sources of income have become important to her given the instability of online work in general but especially now with the law change.

“What’s been hardest is that the law adds an extra layer of worry on top of an already unpredictable digital environment, making a career I’ve built over many years feel suddenly more fragile,” she says.

Amanda’s income hasn’t been drastically affected because she’s never sold custom content, but she doesn’t feel safer as a woman in Sweden under the Sex Purchase Act.

“There are much bigger problems affecting women’s safety, and it’s hard to understand why so much focus is placed here instead. Just recently, over the Christmas period, several women were murdered. Women in Sweden are far from safe.

“What’s especially frustrating is how quickly new laws can be pushed through in some areas, while when it comes to addressing violence against women, the response is often, “this takes time,” or “it will take years to work this out.” That contrast is difficult to accept.”

She says she’s never felt pushed into prostitution because of OnlyFans and that being able to earn money online allows many women to avoid dangerous situations and not have to meet people in real life at all.

“Many of the loudest voices shaping these policies are not in the industry at all and don’t really understand how it works in practice. There are still misconceptions, for example, that minors can use platforms like OnlyFans.

“In reality, the verification process is extremely strict. I’ve had to identify myself multiple times using passport verification and facial scanning, and the same applies to anyone appearing in the content. These platforms have rigorous systems in place, but that reality is often ignored in political debates.”

When I ask Amanda if she’s ever considered leaving Sweden because of the Sex Purchase Act, she said that she and her partner have been thinking about it for a while. The law change has made the decision feel more urgent.

“You start asking yourself where you can actually build a future, feel safe, and be respected for your work,” she says. 

“I also feel that I’m treated much better outside of Sweden. In other countries, it can almost be seen as bold or even impressive to be a porn star. In Sweden, there’s a lot more hate, and the Jantelagen mentality [a mindset which emphasises humility] is very strong. You’re not really allowed to stand out or be different unless you fit into what’s considered acceptable. That makes it hard to feel respected for who you are and the work you do.”