UK to Outlaw Pornography Depicting Strangulation and Incest Starting 6 November
New legislation in the United Kingdom will ban online pornography featuring choking, incestuous role-play, and adults depicting children under 16.
At a glance
- The UK government will ban online pornography showing strangulation, suffocation, and incest starting 6 November.
- The law also criminalises material where performers portray related individuals or children under the age of 16.
- Campaigners and officials welcomed the move but urged the government to mandate platform removal via the Online Safety Act.
The UK government has announced that pornography depicting strangulation, suffocation, and incestuous acts will become illegal across the country starting 6 November. The move follows cross-party support and earlier legislative commitments to restrict online material that depicts or normalises violent and harmful sexual behaviour.
Under the new rules, online pornography showing real or simulated strangulation or suffocation will be outlawed. The prohibition also covers sexual content depicting people who are related or pretending to be related, as well as scenarios where an individual pretends to be a child under the age of 16.
Justice Minister Alex Davies-Jones stated that the legal changes are intended to prevent the normalisation of violence rather than police harmless private preferences. She noted that pornography can distort perceptions of healthy relationships, particularly among young audiences, and warned that material depicting or glorifying violence against women risks blurring the boundaries of acceptable behaviour in real life.
Review and Campaigner Response
The restrictions stem from recommendations made by Conservative peer Gabby Bertin in a 2025 review examining pornography regulation. The review warned that content depicting women being choked can lead to devastating real-world outcomes, while also criticising an absence of historical government oversight across the commercial pornography sector. While non-fatal strangulation had previously been classified as a criminal offence in the UK, distributing footage of the act online remained legal.
Welcoming the implementation date, Lady Bertin said the enforcement of the offences sends a clear message to host platforms and society that extreme material promoting real-world violence will not be tolerated.
Advocacy organisations also endorsed the upcoming ban while calling for stringent oversight. Janaya Walker, interim director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, described the law as a vital step against the normalisation of abuse targeting women and girls. Walker emphasised that strangulation poses severe risks of physical injury or death and called on ministers to update the Online Safety Act to ensure online platforms actively remove the prohibited content.
Source: The Guardian World.
Questions and answers
- When does the UK ban on violent pornography take effect?
- The ban takes effect on 6 November across the United Kingdom following cross-party legislative support.
- What specific content is banned under the new UK law?
- The law prohibits online pornography showing strangulation, suffocation, incestuous acts or role-play, and adults pretending to be children under 16.
- Why were these pornography restrictions introduced?
- The ban follows a 2025 review by Baroness Bertin, which found that depicting choking and violent role-play can lead to devastating real-world harms.
