Ukrainians collect 25,000 signatures for legalization of intimate content: a bill is already in the Rada

President Zelenskyy responded to a petition to decriminalize pornography, reminding that the decision to change laws is made exclusively by the parliament. The initiative was supported by more than 25,000 citizens, and the proposals have already been submitted to the Rada.

This is stated in response to the petition to decriminalize the production of adult content.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has commented on an electronic petition calling for the abolition of criminal liability for the creation of pornographic content. The response appeared on the website of official petitions after the document gained more than 25 thousand signatures, the required minimum for consideration at the level of the head of state.

Zelensky thanked the authors of the initiative and all those who supported it, but emphasized that legislative changes in Ukraine are adopted by the Verkhovna Rada, and the president only signs the laws. In his response, he also reminded that the parliament has already registered draft law No. 12191, which proposes to amend Article 301 of the Criminal Code.

This document proposes to abolish prison sentences for adults for creating and distributing intimate content if it is consensual. However, liability for the distribution of child pornography, non-consensual pornography, and violent or zoophilic content remains and is even being strengthened.

One of the authors of the petition was Svitlana Dvornikova, a model of the OnlyFans platform. In her appeal, she noted that she had paid more than 40 million hryvnias in taxes over the years of her activity and called on the authorities to stop criminal prosecution for intimate photos so that law enforcement officers could focus on real crimes.

The petition quickly gained support: tens of thousands of Ukrainians signed it in less than three days. The initiative quickly spread on social media, gaining support not only from the public but also from some MPs.

Earlier, the author of the petition, Taras Siromsky, noted that the current ban on pornography in Ukraine was adopted despite international criticism that it violated freedom of speech. In his opinion, the law has no practical meaning, as those willing to appear in the relevant content simply go abroad and work for the economies of other countries.

At the same time, according to the Prosecutor General's Office, in the first seven months of 2024 alone, more than 2,300 criminal proceedings related to pornography were opened in Ukraine. And for the third year in a row, most of the cases involve children's content rather than materials involving adults.

Анна Бальчінос