Pornography showing strangulation and incest to be banned in UK from 6 November

The UK government has announced that online pornography depicting strangulation, incest, and adults pretending to be children will become criminal offences from early November.

• New offences make publishing content showing strangulation, suffocation, incest, or adults role-playing as under-16s illegal, carrying a maximum five-year prison sentence.
• The ban follows Lady Gabby Bertin's 2025 review into pornography regulation, commissioned by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government.
• Justice minister Alex Davies-Jones said the law does not criminalise harmless sexual preferences but targets content that "normalises, or even glorifies" violence against women.
• Lady Bertin called the measure "very good news" arriving "not a moment too soon," saying it sends an "unequivocal signal" to companies hosting porn.