Sweden Just Outlawed Custom Content

OnlyFans creators in Sweden are confused, concerned and furious after the country’s leadership passed a new law last summer banning sexually explicit custom content videos. 

Sweden implemented new laws equating purchasing custom content on sites like OnlyFans to buying sex in person, something that’s been illegal in Sweden for nearly 27 years. Called the “Nordic model” or the “Women’s Peace” bill, Sweden passed this legislation in 1999 as a way to not only curb prostitution, but target those buying sex rather than those selling it. The bill was championed by many women’s rights advocates and currently has a country-wide approval rating of about 70% in Sweden. But some OnlyFans creators say the bill has dramatically reduced their income, despite its good intentions. 

Jennifer Vinter, 38, used to be a travel agent before getting into OnlyFans (like many others) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that Jennifer’s clients on OnlyFans could face a hefty fine or a year in prison if they’re caught receiving custom content, she says her earnings have declined sharply. 

Custom content is the bread and butter for most OnlyFans creators, with the exclusive nature of the content driving the price up by a lot in most cases. It’s estimated that custom content makes up about 50% of OnlyFans creator’s earnings. In Vinter’s case, she says she lost three quarters of her OnlyFans pay as soon as the bill passed.

“Sweden decided that if you order a custom-made video, then that is the same thing as buying sex in person because you request the person to do something for you that they might not want to do,” Vinter said. 

Vinter believes Sweden’s government isn’t aware that creators have the option of saying no. “I can say ‘no’ to requests. But apparently I’m not allowed to make that decision for myself. If I want to show my body online, I can.” 

Vinter feels like some political figures purposefully left creators out of the discussion when debating the new law. Rather than consult them before the law was enacted, some politicians even chose to undermine their authority and independence; lumping creators like Vitner together with prostitutes. 

“One of the political party leaders made a statement that all the letters of protest that she’s received can’t possibly be written by us because we are not women with education. So it must be written by our pimps,” Vitner explained. 

Whenever a government tries to hyper-regulate the adult industry, there are often some unintended consequences. Most legislation is enacted with safety in mind. In Sweden, the Nordic Model was passed to outlaw brothels, pimping and prostitution. The aim was to protect trafficked sex workers and sex workers who entered sex work on their own volition from trafficking. Instead, according to sex workers, most of what remained of the adult industry was pushed underground. By taking away brothels - often buildings with security and available STD testing - they took away what made sex work safe. 

In the U.S., a growing number of states are enacting age-verification laws, requiring adult websites to verify the age of their visitors. Again, this sounds like a good idea, but by requiring websites to handle their customers’ sensitive information (ID cards, etc.), a possible data breach becomes far more consequential. What’s more, people who don’t wish to share personal information with their preferred adult site will often go to a less secure website in a “dark corner” of the internet that doesn’t adhere to the law. 

In Sweden, OnlyFans creators are forced to find less safe ways around this new legislation. Vinter knows of some other creators who have gone back to selling sex in person to make up for lost wages. Vitner herself still creates custom content for a webcam-style site that doesn’t adhere to the law, although there’s a good chance the website gets banned in Sweden before too long.