Extended criminal liability for purchasing a sexual act at a distance
What's at stake: The decision determines how broadly criminal liability extends to purchasing sexual acts online, for example through payment services and subscription accounts, and thereby affects both the protection of people sexually exploited online and the ability to prosecute buyers of livestreamed content.
Case texts and AI reasoning are AI-translated from the Swedish originals; the Swedish text is authoritative.
What the vote decides
The vote concerns whether parliament should adopt the government's proposal to extend criminal liability for purchasing a sexual act to conduct performed at a distance, requiring that the perpetrator's main purpose be to take part in or witness the act, or whether that threshold should instead be lowered so the purpose only needs to be one of several, in order to also capture paying subscribers to livestreamed sexual acts.
Yes Yes — the committee proposal
The committee backs the government's proposal and agrees that the 'main purpose' requirement allows a nuanced assessment of the perpetrator's intent and an appropriate delimitation of the criminalised area, and therefore opposes the proposed amendment.
No No — the reservations
Reservation 1 (S)
The reservation broadly supports the delimitation but argues it becomes artificial for subscription services where several paying followers jointly induce someone to perform sexual acts live, for example on sites such as OnlyFans, and therefore wants the 'main purpose' requirement replaced with simply 'purpose' so that these cases are also covered.
Summarised from the committee report. Party labels in the summary come from the report, not from the vote.
V–
S–
MP–
C–
L–
KD–
M–
SD–
YesNoAbstainAbsent
What do the votes mean here?
Yes The committee proposal: adopting the government's legislative proposal and rejecting the motions (keeping things as they are).
No Backing the counter-proposal: reservation 1 by S.
Abstain The party marks a position of its own that is not one of the two final alternatives.
The plan's stance / Actual vote
AI
Vote
Confidence
Evidence
V
–
Yes 18/0/0/6
Sown reservation
–
No 0/88/0/18
MP
–
Yes 16/0/0/2
C
–
Yes 21/0/0/3
L
–
Yes 11/0/0/5
KD
–
Yes 17/0/0/2
M
–
Yes 56/0/0/12
SD
–
Yes 60/0/0/12
Committee proposal
The Riksdag adopts the government's proposal for a law amending the criminal code.
Thereby the Riksdag approves proposition 2024/25:124 and rejects the motions
2024/25:1903 by Nooshi Dadgostar et al. (V) clause 15,
2024/25:2618 by Rasmus Ling et al. (MP) clause 40,
2024/25:2620 by Märta Stenevi et al. (MP) clauses 1 and 2,
2024/25:3111 by Teresa Carvalho et al. (S) clause 71,
2024/25:3157 by Helena Vilhelmsson et al. (C) clause 1,
2024/25:3164 by Ulrika Liljeberg et al. (C) clause 45.1 and
2024/25:3391 by Teresa Carvalho et al. (S) clause 1.
Original (Swedish)
Riksdagen antar regeringens förslag till lag om ändring i brottsbalken.
Därmed bifaller riksdagen proposition 2024/25:124 och avslår motionerna
2024/25:1903 av Nooshi Dadgostar m.fl. (V) yrkande 15,
2024/25:2618 av Rasmus Ling m.fl. (MP) yrkande 40,
2024/25:2620 av Märta Stenevi m.fl. (MP) yrkandena 1 och 2,
2024/25:3111 av Teresa Carvalho m.fl. (S) yrkande 71,
2024/25:3157 av Helena Vilhelmsson m.fl. (C) yrkande 1,
2024/25:3164 av Ulrika Liljeberg m.fl. (C) yrkande 45.1 och
2024/25:3391 av Teresa Carvalho m.fl. (S) yrkande 1.
Riksdag decision: The Riksdag said yes to the government's proposal for amendments to the criminal code. For example, criminal liability for rape of children is expanded and purchase of sexual acts performed remotely is criminalized. In addition, gender is added to the provision on sentence enhancement for crimes motivated by hate.
Anyone who engages in sexual intercourse or other sexual act with a child under 18 years of age with reduced ability to protect their sexual integrity due to, for example, mental illness, functional impairment or the perpetrator's authority may be convicted of rape of a child and sexual abuse of a child.
The crime designation "purchase of sexual service" is changed to "purchase of sexual act" and the criminal scope for that crime and for pimping is expanded to also include acts performed remotely, that is, without physical contact, for example via webcam.
The amendments also mean that more cases of fraud against elderly persons and other particularly vulnerable persons shall be treated as serious crimes and result in harsher punishment.
The legislative amendments come into effect on 1 July 2025.
Counter-proposals
The counter-proposal wants to replace 'in principal purpose' with 'in purpose' to include live-streamed sexual acts on subscription services. (S) — Reservation 1
Motion 2024/25:3390 — med anledning av prop. 2024/25:124 Skärpt syn på sexuella kränkningar, bedrägerier mot äldre och brott med kön som hatbrottsmotiv av Gudrun Nordborg m.fl. (V)
Motion 2024/25:3391 — med anledning av prop. 2024/25:124 Skärpt syn på sexuella kränkningar, bedrägerier mot äldre och brott med kön som hatbrottsmotiv av Teresa Carvalho m.fl. (S)
Motion 2024/25:3393 — med anledning av prop. 2024/25:124 Skärpt syn på sexuella kränkningar, bedrägerier mot äldre och brott med kön som hatbrottsmotiv av Henrik Vinge m.fl. (SD)
Motion 2024/25:3396 — med anledning av prop. 2024/25:124 Skärpt syn på sexuella kränkningar, bedrägerier mot äldre och brott med kön som hatbrottsmotiv av Ulrika Westerlund m.fl. (MP)
Proposition 2024/25:124 — Skärpt syn på sexuella kränkningar, bedrägerier mot äldre och brott med kön som hatbrottsmotiv