Sweden

Sweden was the first country in the world to criminalise the purchase but not the sale of sexual services via the 1999 Sex Purchase Act (Sexköpslagen, Lag 1998:408). The offence was folded into the Penal Code (Brottsbalken) Chapter 6, Section 11 in 2005, and on 1 July 2011 the maximum penalty was doubled from six months to one year. On 20 May 2025 Parliament adopted Proposition 2024/25:124, in force 1 July 2025, which renamed the offence "purchase of a sexual act" and expanded it to cover remote, real-time acts — custom OnlyFans content, paid camming, and personalised video calls. Pre-recorded pornography and passive subscriptions remain legal; paying for direct interactive performance does not. Procurement ("koppleri") and brothel-keeping remain separate offences under BrB Ch. 6 §§ 12.

Specialist police units in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö run regular stings on buyers, including online stings and hotel surveillance. In 2024 Sweden's Migration Agency identified 119 potential sex-trafficking victims and the Gender Equality Agency flagged 430 potential trafficking victims overall, while only four traffickers were convicted (US State Dept 2025 TIP Report). State-funded Mikamottagningen centres (Stockholm, Gothenburg, Borås, Umeå) and Malmö's Evon House offer exit-oriented social services, while KAST/BOSS units counsel buyers. Sex worker orgs (Red Umbrella Sweden, ESWA) consistently report the law pushes work indoors and online, deters clients from sharing screening info, and disproportionately harms migrant workers, who are routinely conflated with trafficking victims and risk deportation rather than support. Landlords and platforms face procuring charges if they knowingly facilitate, so eviction is common.

GDPR applies in full and Sweden's Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten (IMY) actively investigates breaches; client data must be encrypted and minimised. Since 1 July 2025, paying for live remote sexual acts is criminal — Swedish-based clients face up to one year and platforms processing those payments carry compliance risk. Advertising sexual services remains restricted under BrB Ch. 6 § 12 and the Aliens Act.

EU/EEA citizens have free movement; non-EU workers without a residence permit can be expelled under the Aliens Act if found selling sex, even though selling itself is legal. The biggest practical risk is demand-side: clients now face up to one year for both in-person and live-remote purchases, so booking volumes are lower, no-shows higher, and clients often refuse to share screening details. Hotels in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö cooperate with police; using your own apartment can trigger landlord procuring liability.

International tier dominates because Swedish-hosted sites avoid the category: RealEscort.eu (Nordic regional leader), EscortDirectory, Skokka. Tryst.link accepts Swedish profiles. SMS-based local boards are a historic sting vector.

• Red Umbrella Sweden — sex-worker-led advocacy
• Rose Alliance (legacy Swedish SW org)
• ESWA — European Sex Workers' Rights Alliance
• Swedish Gender Equality Agency (Jämställdhetsmyndigheten)