The number of criminal cases for pornography has increased in Ukraine

Increase in the number of criminal cases in the field of pornography in Ukraine

In the first half of 2025, over 2,300 criminal cases related to pornography have been recorded in Ukraine. According to the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine, this is a 20% increase compared to the same period last year. Notably, while the number of cases involving child pornography has decreased by 4%, cases related to the production, distribution, and dissemination of 'adult' content have increased by 1.5 times. Over the past three years, an average of 85% of such cases reach the court. This is reported by Glavkom citing Opendatabot.

A total of 2,368 criminal cases related to pornography were opened in the first half of 2025. About 60% of all cases this year (1,411 cases) were initiated under Article 301 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (CCU), which concerns 'adult' content. This is 1.5 times more than last year. Meanwhile, 957 cases concern child pornography, with their number slightly decreasing compared to last year.

Decentralization of adult content production

On average, about 235 new cases related to 18+ content are opened each month. For comparison, in 2024 this figure was 137 cases per month, and in 2023 it was only 75. The highest number of cases this year was opened in March (375) and January (355), which are record figures for all observation years.

Currently, 96% of cases under Article 301 CCU already have suspects, and 80% have been forwarded to court. For Article 301-1 CCU, suspicion has been communicated in 89% of cases, and 85% of them are under court review. Overall, the high percentage of cases reaching court averages around 85% over the past three years.

The increase in cases occurs against the backdrop of discussions on the decriminalization of adult content production. In June 2025, Svetlana Dvornikova, an adult content creator on the OnlyFans platform, published a petition on the website of the President's Office of Ukraine requesting the decriminalization of such content production. The model noted that a criminal case had been opened against her under Article 301 CCU, despite having paid over 40 million UAH in taxes over her 5 years of activity.

Svetlana Dvornikova urged President Volodymyr Zelensky to publicly support Bill No. 12191 and to facilitate its expedited submission to the Verkhovna Rada. This bill proposes amendments to Article 301 of the Criminal Code under which authors of adult content on OnlyFans and other platforms are prosecuted. In December 2024, it was supported by the Law Enforcement Committee of the Verkhovna Rada.

The petition gained the necessary number of signatures in less than two weeks. On July 8, 2025, President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to the petition and sent proposals to the Verkhovna Rada.

As reported, last year 350 OnlyFans models declared 305 million UAH in income and paid 59 million UAH in taxes, highlighting the economic potential of this sector.

We remind that last year the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky responded to a petition requesting the decriminalization of pornography. 

Compared to the previous period, the number of criminal cases in the field of pornography in Ukraine has increased in the first half of 2025. The increase in cases concerning 'adult' content is particularly notable. This is happening against the backdrop of discussions about the possible decriminalization of such production. The OnlyFans model's appeal to the president and the petition movement reflect significant public interest in this topic.