The Case of Josephine Jackson, Erotica Decriminalization in Ukraine and Ukrainian OnlyFans

Over the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian segment of the internet news has literally exploded with dozens of articles devoted to one topic – the departure from Ukraine of adult film star Yulia Senyuk (Юлія Сенюк), better known under the pseudonym Josephine Jackson. We (the team of CO “Legalife-Ukraine”) decided to figure out what actually happened and how it relates to our work protecting the rights of sex workers in Ukraine. We should note right away that in the process of working on this article, we have additional questions.

So, let’s start our analysis.

It is highly likely that the primary source of this wave of information was an article published on the evening of 21 September 2025 on the zaxid.net portal. We will quote it in full.

Well-known adult film actress Josephine Jackson has left Ukraine

"Adult film actress Yulia Senyuk from Lviv, known under the pseudonym Josephine Jackson, has announced that she has left Ukraine. She called the reason for her decision the criminal prosecution of girls with related activities.

On social network X (formerly Twitter), the actress ridiculed the information that she ‘pays the SSU (Security Service of Ukraine)’ and therefore is not held criminally liable for erotic filming. Earlier, in an interview, Josephine Jackson said that she only appears in adult films abroad, as she understands that her activities are prohibited in Ukraine.

In the comments to her post, one of the social network users wrote that ‘if there are no shootings on the territory of Ukraine – there is no violation of the law.’ Josephine Jackson replied that she had left the country. However, she did not say where exactly she had gone.

‘When I saw the mess that started with those searches of the girls, I decided to get away from it all. I don’t see the point in staying in a country where the law imprisons you for a nude photo on your phone. But “paid the SSU ” sounds much funnier,’ the actress wrote.

In Ukraine, Yulia Senyuk was involved in charity work and helped the military, in particular, she held meetings, and took pictures with wounded soldiers for a charity calendar. She is an ambassador for the Titanium Rehabilitation Centre and says that due to her departure, she will not be able to consistently support them at events.

‘Because of this, I can no longer consistently support the guys from Titanium at their events and initiatives because I am not in Ukraine. I am an ambassador and feel a certain responsibility in this regard, that my presence is important there,’ wrote Josephine Jackson.

In Ukraine, the production and distribution of pornography is prohibited at the legislative level. There have been cases where people have been prosecuted for sending their own erotic photos during private correspondence in a messenger.

In June 2025, OnlyFans model Svetlana Dvornikova posted a petition on the Ukrainian President’s website demanding the decriminalisation of porn. Within a few days, the petition had gathered the required 25,000 votes, and Volodymyr Zelensky responded to it. The President noted that Ukraine (is a constitutional state and that the only legislative body is the Verkhovna Rada, which, in particular, is authorised to pass laws. The president also reminded that a bill ‘On Amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine Regarding the Improvement of Certain Provisions on Criminal Offences Against Public Order and Morality’ is currently under consideration by parliament, which provides for prosecution only for the sale and distribution of pornographic materials among minors.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy also emphasised that the president signs laws after they have been adopted by the Verkhovna Rada (the Parliament of Ukraine). ‘At the same time, I would like to inform you that the proposals expressed in the electronic petition have been sent to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for consideration during the review of the relevant draft law in accordance with the established procedure,’ stressed President of Ukraine.” (end quote)

Source: portal zaxid.net

The information in this article has already been published many times by various news portals in Ukraine (and beyond), mainly in abbreviated form, with an emphasis on Yulia Senyuk’s departure/temporary departure/escape from Ukraine.

But, unfortunately, this article does not give a clear answer to the question of what actually happened. The second question posed in the article also remains unanswered: what is happening with the process of decriminalization of the erotic content in Ukraine today?

There are answers to both questions. Question No. 1: What happened to Yulia Senyuk?

Journalists from the espreso.tv portal quickly found the answer to the first question in an article that appeared after the wave of information. Here is a quote from their article, which, in our opinion, clarifies the situation.

"Adult film star Yulia Senyuk (Josephine Jackson) moved abroad for safety reasons amid mass searches. She noted that the move took place five months ago.

She wrote about this on social network X.

“I didn’t ‘leave,’ I moved abroad like a lot of people before. This is a significant difference. I can come to Ukraine whenever I want, but I won’t live there anymore. No one is persecuting me. The decision to move was made a long time ago for my own safety reasons, given the mass searches of girls. I don’t know these girls, this is just information available on the internet/in the news," Senyuk said.

She clarified that she moved five months ago, not now, ‘when the media blew it up.’

Yulia Senyuk

"If you’ve just woken up, let me remind you: the fining and persecution of girls began a long time ago, but it started on a massive scale in 2024 and has reached the point of absurdity, where you are fined for having nude photos on your phone, not for making porn. This is also a significant difference, because each of you is at risk, not just “internet prostitutes”," said Josephine Jackson.

She stressed that she pays high taxes and does not want "this arbitrariness to be done with support of her money."

"Supporting “Titanium” and others is not about donations, but about physical participation in various events/activities/meetings, etc. Because in this way I spread information, joining, filming and exposing it all to the public. Ask yourself, would you pay attention to prosthetics if I wasn’t there? I doubt it... And that’s the only thing that bothers me and that my move has affected. So calm down and stop making a fuss, nothing happened," the actress added.” (end quote)

Source: portal espreso.tv

Question No. 2 – What is happening with the process of decriminalization of the erotic content in Ukraine?

The answer to this question is key in all this confusion, as it determines the fate and future not only of Yulia Senyuk, but also of many thousands of Ukrainian citizens who find themselves at risk due to the delay in the Verkhovna Rada’s consideration of amendments to the legislation related to the civilised decriminalisation of erotic content.

Part of the answer to this question can be found in an article on zaxid.net portal, which makes it clear that the entire process of decriminalising erotica depends on the adoption of Bill No. 12191.

As a self-organised community, we participated in the development of this initiative to decriminalise erotic content. Moreover, for over 10 years, we have been advocating for the complete decriminalisation of all types of work related to the voluntary provision of intimate services by adults. Here you can read our ‘Official Position of Legalife-Ukraine on the Decriminalisation of Article 301 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine’.

Over the past year, we have repeatedly published articles on our portal (for example, here and here) telling about how the discussion of Draft Law No. 12191 is going, and more precisely, why it has not yet been submitted to the Parliament for a vote.

There was indeed hope that the process would move forward from a dead end in June 2025 after the resonant petition of Svitlana Dvornikova, when the President officially announced that the new law had been sent for additional consideration to the Parliament.

After that, in July and August 2025, we spent a lot of effort trying to understand what was happening with this bill. At the end of August, we received a response. It completely coincides with the information published on the same espresso.tv portal on 31 August 2025.

Here is the response:

"People’s Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak (Ярослав Железняк) stated that President Volodymyr Zelensky personally removed the bill on the decriminalisation of pornography from the Verkhovna Rada’s agenda several times. According to him, the reason for this decision was fear of a negative public reaction and a possible drop in the government’s approval rating.

He shared this information on his YouTube channel, ‘Zaliznyy Nardep’ ("Залізний нардеп").

Currently, Article 301 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine provides for real prison terms for the storage and distribution of pornographic materials. As Zheleznyak emphasised, this creates the ground for corrupt abuses by law enforcement officials, who ‘fabricate cases’ even for private nude photographs.

The People’s Deputy gave an example of a verdict in 2025, when a person was sentenced to four years in prison just for sending their own intimate photos. Despite the fact that the law ‘on public morality’ has long been repealed, courts still pass sentences in such cases.

Zheleznyak recalled that the initiative to decriminalise pornography has already passed the relevant committee and received the support of MPs from various political forces, from liberals to conservatives.

However, the document never made it to the session hall. According to the MP, every time before the plenary week, a meeting is held in the President’s Office where a list of draft laws for consideration is formed. It was there that the initiative was blocked personally by Zelensky himself or his entourage.

‘So the next time you ask in the comments, “What about the law on pornography?” — for now, the status is that it has been blocked by the President. It is not even on the agenda. And in the Ukrainian parliament — as you know, unfortunately, there are not many influential people who can help here,’ he concluded.

Zheleznyak stressed that the opposition will continue to demand that the bill be put to a vote.” (end quote)

Source: portal espresso.tv

Questions that remain unanswered

In his interview, Yaroslav Zheleznyak makes it clear that consideration of bill No. 12191 has been put on hold. But do we still have time to wait for the moment when the stars align in the horoscope of the President and deputies for a civilised resolution of this issue?

In May this year, it was reported that Fenix International Ltd, the owner of the popular OnlyFans platform, was in active negotiations to sell the platform to a group of investors for about $8 billion. And if we assume that at least some of these anonymous investors, through numerous intermediaries, will turn out to be linked to russian financial structures, the consequences of this deal will be extremely negative, first and foremost for the citizens of Ukraine.

So, for the question we often asked this year during discussions of the new bill on the decriminalisation of erotic content, both to experts and MPs – ‘Do we need to create a Ukrainian analogue of the OnlyFans platform?’ – it is time for an update.

In the autumn of 2025, the question ‘How quickly can we create a Ukrainian analogue of the OnlyFans?’ will become relevant. And we have practically no time left to answer it.

Press review prepared by the team of the Legalife-Ukraine portal.