'Boundaries between pornography and human trafficking..': Sweden bans buying sexual acts online, affecting OnlyFans

Stockholm: Sweden's parliament on Tuesday passed a new law that prohibits the purchase of sexual acts online, placing restrictions on platforms such as OnlyFans.

Under the new law, it will be illegal to offer compensation to another person to perform a sexual act remotely online.

The law does, however, allow users to watch and pay for pre-recorded sexual material or live streams that they have not requested.

"This is about digitalised prostitution, where the boundaries between pornography and human trafficking are blurred but where exploitation and abuse are present," TT news agency quoted Social Democrat lawmaker Sanna Backeskog saying during the parliamentary debate over the law.

OnlyFans is an adults-only website that allows anyone from celebrities and porn stars to aspiring influencers to sell sexually explicit videos of themselves.

Created in 2016, it has hundreds of millions of users, with top earners making millions of dollars a year.

The platform is restricted or banned in some countries including Turkey.

A spokeswoman for OnlyFans said the company "complies with all laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which it operates."