There has been a 13% increase in criminal cases related to adult pornography this year

This year, 1,498 criminal cases were opened under Article 301 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (import, production, sale, and distribution of pornographic materials). That’s 13% more than during the same period last year — 1,320 cases. Almost half of all criminal cases this year were opened in just two months — January and March. Cases under this article have one of the highest solution rates: in 95% (1,424 cases), a person has already been charged, and 81% (1,215 cases) have been sent to court.

The state generously pays experts who review adult content for criminal investigations. According to Ekonomichna Pravda, over the three years of the full-scale war, ₴4.9 million has been spent on such content examinations — meaning an expert earns about ₴500 per hour for watching nude material.

Amid these figures, the State Tax Service sent letters to models from platforms like OnlyFans, urging them to pay taxes on their earnings. This caused concern among content creators: they are willing to pay taxes but fear that doing so could automatically lead to criminal charges under Article 301 of the Criminal Code.

It’s worth noting that there have been a few cases where adult content creators went to court to challenge fines from the Tax Service for unpaid taxes. Moreover, some of them even won — currently, the court register contains information about three such cases.

The unresolved issue of decriminalizing Article 301 of the Criminal Code remains the main risk for people working in the digital adult content industry. As long as this law remains in force, any type of content can still be interpreted ambiguously.

«If OnlyFans models and creators are willing to declare their income and pay taxes at the request of the Tax Service, this should not automatically become grounds for opening a criminal case under Article 301 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The platforms do not share, and the Tax Service does not analyze, the content itself — they only see financial transactions. Moreover, OnlyFans allows publishing any kind of content — not necessarily erotic. For example, fitness trainers, teachers, bloggers, and musicians use it. Even a math teacher can run an educational blog there.

So, technically, the risk of being charged under this article exists, but it doesn’t arise from declaring income. It can only happen if investigators, during an inspection, find specific 18+ materials that they classify as pornographic», 

— explains lawyer Lesia Mykhalenko.

In her opinion, Article 301 is already outdated — even private correspondence between consenting adults could fall under it. If draft law No. 12191 is adopted, it won’t legalize pornography but will decriminalize it. This means the police will no longer be able to open criminal cases or pressure creators who produce consensual adult content.

«This would put an end to situations where, under the guise of ‘fighting pornography,’ law enforcement officers conduct raids and humiliate people — simply because ‘there’s no other criminal case to show up with», 

— the lawyer noted.