Porn showing choking or incest to be banned from early November, government says

New laws to ban online pornography depicting strangulation or incestuous relationships will come into effect in early November.

The full report

The UK government has announced plans to ban online pornography depicting strangulation or incestuous relationships from early November. According to the BBC News — Technology, the new rules will make it illegal to possess or publish porn which shows strangulation or suffocation, depicts sexual activity between people who are related, or shows adults role-playing as children under 16.

The decision follows a review into porn regulation in 2025, which found depictions of choking were 'rife' on popular porn sites and had helped normalise the act among young people. Conservative peer Baroness Gabby Bertin, who headed the review, stated that the change in law would 'send the unequivocal signal' to companies that host and facilitate porn, and also to wider society, that 'extreme and violent content that encourages real-life harm is not acceptable'.

The review cited an account of a 14-year-old boy asking a teacher how to choke girls during sex, warning that people imitating such behaviour 'may face devastating consequences'. Non-fatal strangulation is already an offence if someone does not consent, but its depiction online is currently not illegal. Amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill, which became law in April, sought to ensure such content would be captured by the legislation and made criminal offences in England and Wales.

Justice minister Alex Davies-Jones stated that the new laws are not about 'criminalising harmless sexual preferences', but rather about addressing the potential harm caused by the depiction of violent content online. She warned that porn can shape what people think a healthy relationship looks like, especially young people, and that content which 'normalises, or even glorifies' violence against women can 'blur the line with what is acceptable in real life'.

The new laws will come into effect on 6 November, and individuals are advised to delete any existing content that may be affected by the changes. Davies-Jones urged people to stop sharing such content, stating that 'it's not as harmless as you may think, and after 6 November, it is criminal'.