News about petition to decriminalize OnlyFans in Ukraine and official reaction

In most countries of the European Union, intimate business is legal and pays taxes to the budget. However, in Ukraine, by now prostitution is a criminal offence. However, the government plans to change this situation.

First of all, they want to release victims of sexual slavery and human trafficking from punishment. They are no longer going to be prosecuted.

Recently, Andriy Nebytov (Андрій Нєбитов), Deputy Head of the National Police of Ukraine, Police General, Chief of Police, emphasized that those who are not charged with prostitution may be subject to strict control and a mechanism should be established to ensure this.

In addition, Nebytov noted that the practice of providing intimate services in EU is entirely legal. And on the path to joining the European Union, Ukraine is striving to implement similar, already developed mechanisms.

At the same time, Nebytov added that the legalisation of intimate services should be controlled to prevent fraud. And for which legal mechanisms may be prepared to legalize the sphere of intimate services.

"There should be no permissiveness here. Prostitution is the basis for sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Too often, control over the provision of intimate services is in the hands of organised crime," – said Andriy Nebytov.

Andriy Nebytov, deputy head of the National Police of Ukraine

At the same time, week ago President of Ukraine Volodymir Zelensky responded to a petition to decriminalise adult content in Ukraine.

What this petition is about and who is Svitlana Dvornikova (Світлана Дворнікова), who published this petition?

Svitlana Dvornikova, who calls herself a bona fide taxpayer and model of OnlyFans, created a petition ‘Decriminalise the production of adult content so that law enforcers deal with real crimes rather than making control purchases of intimate photos’ on the official website of the President on 27 June 2025.

"In five years, I have given over 40 million hryvnias in taxes to the state. Forty million is a hundred pickup trucks or two thousand FPV drones for the AFU. Forty million is hundreds of Russians occupiers killed at the front. However, instead of gratitude for this money, the state initiated a criminal case against me under Article 301, and law enforcers hinted that for a certain amount of money the case could disappear. I am not the only one who appeared in situation like this. This is our reality - those who should protect the law come to OnlyFans models, open criminal cases and offer corrupt deals," – writes Svetlana Dvornikova.

The woman appealed to President Zelensky as the guarantor of the Constitution of Ukraine with a request to lend a hand to the bill № 12191 of 11.11.2024 ‘On Amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine regarding the improvement of its individual provisions on criminal offences against public order and morality’

"Tell me, why does the state prosecute for activities in which there are no victims? My work is a voluntary exchange between adults who know what they want. All participants are adults, all acting of their own free will. Where is the crime here? Who is the victim? Why is Article 301 effectively a bribe-making machine? Our soldiers are dying for freedom when our police are wasting time and money on ‘test purchases’ of erotic content at taxpayers’ expense. Every such operation means that the police did not investigate real crimes. Ukrainians are being punished with fines of 25500 UAH for forwarding an erotic photo to someone via Telegram. In private correspondence. Between adults. Again: where is the offence? Who suffered?", - writes Svetlana Dvornikova.

The woman notes that in 2023, 1943 ghost cases were opened under 301 articles, where there are neither criminals nor victims. However, they ate 85.5 thousand working hours of investigators. The OnlyFans platform pays more than $1 million a year to the state budget; 350 Ukrainian creators declared 305.4 million hryvnias of income over the year and gave 59 million in taxes to the state, while the Economic Security Bureau meanwhile searches those who honestly declare income. In three years, more than 5,000 Ukrainians earned $123 million on OnlyFans. Experts say: decriminalisation will bring about $12.3 million in taxes annually.

In her opinion, Bill No. 12191 is also a strengthening of the fight against real crimes. It establishes tougher penalties for involving children in the production of porn, strengthens responsibility for distribution of such content to minors and singles out coercion of minors as a particularly serious offence. After all, state resources should go to protecting real victims, not hunting adults for their free choices.

"In all European countries except Belarus and Bulgaria, adults are free to engage in the production of erotic content. When will it finally be time to join the civilised world? Our law enforcement system for now does not protect rights - it violates them.  The current legislation creates a breeding ground for corruption, and some law enforcers harvest from this field, earning money on artificially created cases against people who have harmed no one. I urge you to publicly support the bill #12191, to promote its introduction into the agenda of the Verkhovna Rada not tomorrow, not in a month, not after the war - but now!  It is time to stop hunting people for activities which are not harming anyone, to remove cases against OnlyFans models from criminal prosecution, and finally, to align our law enforcement practice with the principles of the rule of law, where what does not harm anyone cannot be a crime. I want to pay taxes and help the economy of Ukraine, but my state makes a criminal out of me. I want to live in a free country where human rights are not just words on paper, but now those who are supposed to protect these rights are trampling on them themselves. I ask you to stand on the side of justice. Let’s make one more step from the Soviet legacy to the modern free world," writes Svetlana Dvornikova.

The petition gained the required number of signatures (25 000) in less than two weeks, and on 8 of July 2025, Zelensky sent her proposals to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

Sources: dp.informator.ua, sud.ua, informator.ua