Kyiv wants to cash in on OnlyFans creators’ unpaid taxes. There’s just one problem: making porn is illegal in Ukraine.
Ukrainian OnlyFans creators owe nearly 385 million hryvnias (about $9 million) in back taxes, according to Ukraine’s State Tax Service (STS). This figure covers income taxes for just the years 2020 through 2022. Ukrainian tax authorities now have access to data on citizens earning money through the platform and have begun efforts to collect what they’re owed. But there’s a legal complication: much of this income is technically the proceeds of illegal activity. Most Ukrainian creators on OnlyFans earn money by producing adult content — and under Ukrainian law, producing or distributing pornography is a criminal offense, punishable by fines or even prison time. Although there have been calls to decriminalize pornography, no reforms have been enacted. In the meantime, law enforcement reportedly exploits the legal gray zone surrounding adult content as a source of bribes and kickbacks. The Ukrainian outlet Ekonomichna Pravda recently published multiple in-depth investigations into how the system operates. Meduza summarizes their findings in English.
OnlyFans, a subscription-based platform primarily used to monetize erotic content, was founded in 2016 by British businessman Timothy Stokely and later acquired in 2018 by Ukrainian-American entrepreneur Leonid Radvinsky, a veteran of the adult content industry. Radvinsky, now worth an estimated $7.8 billion, earned over $700 million in dividends from the platform in 2024 alone.
The site’s popularity soared during the pandemic and continues to grow. In 2024, the number of content creators reached 1.4 million (up 13 percent from the previous year), while subscriber numbers rose to over 377 million — a 24 percent increase.
Since 2022, OnlyFans has paid a 20 percent value-added tax (VAT) in Ukraine, like other international digital platforms. But in 2024, the Ukraine’s State Tax Service (STS) turned its attention to the platform’s creators, arguing that they, too, should pay income taxes.
To track these earnings, the STS requested information from the British tax authority on Ukrainian citizens who received payments from Fenix International, OnlyFans’ U.K.-based parent company. Legal experts interviewed by Ekonomichna Pravda raised concerns about the sweeping nature of this data sharing. Nonetheless, in September 2024, Ukraine began receiving detailed reports from the U.K.
According to that data, over 5,400 Ukrainians earned a total of $111 million from OnlyFans between 2020 and 2022 — a tenfold increase in payouts over three years.
‘A confession’
The STS’s crackdown appears aimed at boosting state revenues during wartime. While this may sound like a reasonable goal, the move has serious legal implications. Under Ukraine’s criminal code, producing or distributing pornography carries penalties ranging from a 17,000-hryvnia fine (about $400) to seven years in prison.
Paying taxes on adult content does not protect creators from prosecution. On the contrary, as Ekonomichna Pravda notes, filing taxes on such income could be interpreted as the “legalization” of criminal proceeds — itself a punishable offense.
When asked about this contradiction, the head of the tax service told Ekonomichna Pravda: “I’m not a specialist in everything. I follow the law.”
“This [paying taxes on OnlyFans income] is, in effect, a confession,” said lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak. In both 2023 and 2024, he and several other legislators submitted bills to decriminalize pornography. Neither made it past committee review. A source close to the issue told Ekonomichna Pravda that the initiative lacks high-level support: “The president hasn’t yet made up his mind [on whether decriminalization is necessary].”
Meanwhile, law enforcement has openly opposed reform. National Police Chief Ivan Vyhovsky argued that legalizing pornography could help Russia destabilize Ukraine (though he offered no details or evidence) and warned it would undermine “moral values.”
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A system of exploitation
Earlier this year, Ekonomichna Pravda published a detailed investigation into Ukraine’s adult industry suggesting that financial incentives may also play a role in the police’s resistance. According to their reporting, law enforcement officials have turned the criminalization of adult content into a source of regular bribes and extortion.
“In 2019, cyber police raided my place under the porn statute,” one Pornhub model told the outlet. “They told me, pay about $20,000 or face a criminal case. I had to borrow the money from friends. Then they went to my friend and demanded the same. She paid, then left the country. I know lots of stories like this. Once you pay, they keep you on the hook: either you pay $500–$1,000 a month, or you leave.”
A webcam model described a similar pattern:
After my case was closed [with a $3,800 bribe], they gave me four options: go back to work at a studio that pays protection; pay protection money myself; leave the country; or leave the industry. I chose to pay — but the amounts went up each month. $1,200, then $1,400, then $1,800. I left. I realized it wasn’t going to stop.
In total, Ekonomichna Pravda spoke to six women who said they were extorted by law enforcement. Individual creators reported monthly payments of around $1,000, while larger operations — such as webcam studios and OnlyFans agencies — paid far more. A former employee of one agency said their monthly revenue ranged from $1 to $2 million, with roughly one-third going to police.
‘Hunting people down for a victimless activity’
Ukrainian authorities open around a thousand criminal cases per year for the production or distribution of pornography — despite the fact that, since 2023, Ukrainian law no longer clearly defines what qualifies as pornography. As Ekonomichna Pravda points out, this legal ambiguity means cases often target ordinary people who share explicit images with partners or post them on dating sites.
Professional adult content creators are also at risk. Some Ukrainian OnlyFans models were raided after the tax agency received data about their earnings — even those who had already been paying taxes, according to lawyer Lesia Mykhailenko.
One creator recently posted a petition on the president’s website highlighting the dilemma:
I’m a law-abiding taxpayer and an OnlyFans model who creates erotic content. Over five years, I’ve paid more than 40 million hryvnias ($964,000) to the state. But instead of gratitude, the state opened a criminal case against me — and law enforcement hinted it could disappear for a certain price. It’s time to stop hunting people down for victimless activity. I want to pay taxes and support Ukraine’s economy, but my country is turning me into a criminal.
The petition calls on President Volodymyr Zelensky to decriminalize pornography — a change that could help resolve the contradictions at the heart of Ukraine’s handling of the adult industry. Until then, creators face a no-win situation: pay taxes and risk prosecution — or avoid taxes and face penalties anyway.
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