The Swedish Parliament, called the Riksdag, recently shocked the world by passing a new law which bans OnlyFans, one of the most popular pornographic sites in the entire world.
This platform rose in popularity during 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic where millions of people around the world were forced into prolonged isolation and many were without work. As the saying goes,
“An idle mind is the devil’s playground.”
OnlyFans is undoubtedly proof of this.
Without getting into unnecessary or dark detail, the platform of OnlyFans operates on a simple business model– you pay for the service you want and a “creator” will provide your desired service at their desired price. A simple quid pro quo.
This has been said before and it must be said again: pornography is the legal loophole for prostitution and sex trafficking.
Ben Johnson of The Washington Stand notes,
“Under the new law, which takes effect July 1, anyone found guilty of buying a personalized sexual act (but not those selling it) face up to one year in prison, and anyone guilty of financially exploiting the person carrying out the sex act could face four years in prison.”
Due to the fact that pay-per-view makes up the majority of the revenue that OnlyFans receives, penalizing the purchaser would severely crash the platform’s cash flow and profit.
Teresa Carvalho, a member of Sweden’s liberal Social Democratic Party commented on the passing of this law:
“This is a new form of sex sales and it is high time that we modernize sex sales, and that we also include sales that occur remotely on digital platforms such as OnlyFans…
We know that there is a dark picture behind [OnlyFans performances that involves] drugs, human trafficking and abuse, as well as being a gateway to more prostitution.”
Teresa is absolutely correct in her concern that OnlyFans is a gateway to prostitution. A 2022 survey found that almost a quarter (22.3%) of OnlyFans “content creators” admit to engaging in “some form of in-person work.”
Not only this, OnlyFans has been under fire multiple times for its link to child sexual abuse and sex trafficking.
National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) President, Dr. Marcel van der Watt commented,
“OnlyFans has faced scrutiny by police, policymakers, and the press for evidence of child sexual abuse material, sex trafficking, image-based sexual abuse, and other forms of exploitation and potential crimes.”
While the NCOSE called on the Justice Department to investigate OnlyFans in March of 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration sadly, but unsurprisingly, took no action.
However, given the change in Administrations and the fact that U. S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) has recently introduced a bill to ban pornography, S.1671, the Interstate Obscenity Definition Act. With this bill, there is a chance that America might follow in Sweden’s footsteps.
Pornography of any kind is a cancer that must be eradicated if we are to live in a moral and just society.
Take ACTION: Click HERE to email your U.S. Senators, urging them to vote in favor of S.1671, The Interstate Obscenity Definition Act. Remind them that pornography fuels prostitution and sex trafficking, devastating the lives of women and children.
