Creators Say Police Demand Bribes of Up to $30,000 Under Ukraine's Porn Ban, Report Finds

Some Ukrainian police officers demand bribes of $200 to $30,000 (about £150 to £22,500) from adult content creators, a lawyer who represents them says. Lesia Mykhalenko told the Kyiv Independent that officers use Ukraine's porn ban to extract money. A bill to end the ban still needs a final vote.

A former OnlyFans model using the pseudonym Velma said an officer and two accomplices dragged a colleague out of her home into a car. They gave her three days to pay or face 'problems'. Penalties reach Hr 85,000 (about $1,800 / £1,350) in fines or seven years in jail.

What Creators and Their Lawyer Describe

Mykhalenko said it is not uncommon for armed officers to burst into homes and pin creators to the floor. They then pressure them to sign confessions, either to secure a bribe or to close a case quickly. She said around 95% of creators are women, mostly young. Prosecutors opened almost 1,500 such cases in the first nine months of 2025, up 13% year on year, Opendatabot data shows. Such cases easily boost police statistics, she said.

Ihor Samokhodskyi, a policy expert, helped draft the first decriminalisation bill in 2022. He compares the ban's use to Soviet-era pressure on dissidents. 'It allows you to persecute who you want to persecute,' he said. In May, authorities arrested several senior officers from police forces in western and central Ukraine, accused of taking bribes to protect adult content studios. The Kyiv Independent report carried no police response. Only lifting the ban will fix this, Samokhodskyi argues.

Where the Bill Stands

On Tuesday 14 July, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, backed bill No. 15294 at its first reading by 231 votes to 8. Three MPs abstained. The bill would decriminalise adult content made by consenting adults. Penalties for child sexual abuse material would rise, with sentences of up to 15 years in some cases. An earlier bill fell on 28 May with 207 votes, short of the 226 votes it needed.

The bill must pass a second reading before it reaches the president. Danylo Hetmantsev, who chairs parliament's tax committee, says support is not strong enough to guarantee a win. Opponents include Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister, who warned it would 'turn Ukraine into Pornhub.' On tax, Yaroslav Zhelezniak, the opposition MP who leads the bill, says 5,000 Ukrainian creators made $123 million (about £92 million) on OnlyFans between 2020 and 2022.

The Cost to Creators

Tax demands add strain for Ukraine's estimated 15,000 creators. A creator who goes by the name Moon said officials claimed she owed more than $250,000 (about £188,000). She says the figure does not reflect her real income. She said models may take home only about 20% of their earnings after paying agencies, managers and chat staff. She is now fighting the claim in court.

Creators have paid about $2.8 million (about £2.1 million) in back taxes for 2020 to 2023 after thousands of State Tax Service audits. Ukrainian outlet Ekonomichna Pravda estimates that this is about 5% of their income from OnlyFans. The audits followed Britain's 2024 move to share Ukrainian users' earnings data with Kyiv, prompting tax officials to chase unpaid taxes. OnlyFans' parent company, Fenix International, is British.