“In nine months of 2025, law enforcement officers opened 1,498 criminal proceedings for the importation, production, sale and distribution of pornographic materials. This is 13% more than in the same period last year. This is reported by “Opendatabot”. Almost half of the cases were registered in just two months – January and March. 95% of proceedings (1,424) already have a notification about”, — write on: ua.news
In nine months of 2025, law enforcement officers opened 1,498 criminal proceedings for the importation, production, sale and distribution of pornographic materials. This is 13% more than in the same period last year.
This is reported by “Opendatabot”.
Almost half of the cases were registered in just two months – January and March. 95% of proceedings (1,424) already have a notification of suspicion, 81% of cases (1,215) have been referred to court.
In addition, the state pays for content expertise: UAH 4.9 million over three years, and approximately UAH 500 per hour of expert work.
The production and distribution of 18+ content is prohibited in Ukraine, but there is no income tax. Amid the growing number of cases, the DPS sent out notices to authors from platforms such as OnlyFans urging them to declare their income.
This has caused concern among models and creators, because they fear that the declaration will automatically lead to criminal proceedings.
Lawyer Lesya Myhalenko noted that the mere fact of paying taxes is not a basis for a criminal case. Tax authorities see only the financial income, not the content of the content.
The risk arises only when the investigation finds specific 18+ materials that qualify as pornographic.
The current article 301 is so outdated that even private correspondence between adults can formally fall under it, and the court register records at least three cases when authors of “adult” content challenged DPS fines and won.
Former model of the OnlyFans platform Svitlana Dvornikova created on the website of the President of Ukraine petition with a request to abolish criminal liability for pornographic activity. She emphasizes that she conscientiously pays taxes, but still became the object of criminal proceedings.
Earlier we wrote that the OnlyFans service was put up for sale for $8 billion. Investors from the USA want to buy the business.
For January-May 2025, the state budget of Ukraine received about UAH 7 billion from the so-called “Google tax” – a fee from non-residents who provide electronic services in Ukraine. This is UAH 1.8 billion more than in the same period of 2024.
