UK to ban porn depicting strangulation and incest from November 6 — The Guardian
From November 6, the United Kingdom will ban online pornography depicting strangulation or suffocation, sex between relatives or people pretending to be related. Content in which someone imitates a person under the age of 16 will also become illegal, The Guardian reports.
New restrictions
The UK government announced that the new rules will come into force following cross-party pressure that earlier this year prompted ministers to say they were preparing legislative changes. Non-fatal strangulation is already a separate offence in the country, but its depiction online has not been banned until now.
Justice Minister Alex Davies-Jones said the rules are not intended to criminalise harmless sexual preferences. According to her, pornography can influence people’s ideas, particularly those of young people, about healthy relationships, while content that normalises or glorifies violence against women is dangerous.
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Review recommendations
The changes correspond to recommendations from a review of pornography regulation published in 2025 by Conservative member of the House of Lords Gabby Bertin. It stated that pornography depicting the strangulation of women can have devastating consequences in real life. The review also drew attention to incest role-play scenarios and adults portraying children, and pointed to a lack of adequate state oversight of the pornography industry.
The End Violence Against Women coalition supported the ban and called on the government to ensure its effective enforcement. The organisation’s acting director, Janaya Walker, stressed that strangulation can cause severe long-term harm or lead to death, and that its widespread depiction in pornography risks normalising violence in sexual relationships, especially among young people. The coalition also called for the Online Safety Act to be updated so that platforms would be required to remove such content.
