From 6 November, Porn Depicting Strangulation or Incest Is Criminal to Possess in England and Wales
Online pornography depicting strangulation or incestuous relationships will be banned from early November, the government has announced. From 6 November, it will be illegal in England and Wales to possess or publish porn that shows strangulation or suffocation, depicts sexual activity between people who are related, or shows adults role-playing as children under 16.
The change hinges on a gap: non-fatal strangulation is already an offence when it happens without consent, but its depiction online has not been illegal. The rules follow a 2025 review of porn regulation, which found depictions of choking were “rife” on popular porn sites and had helped normalise the act among young people.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
Possession is an offence here, not only production. The compliance line — delete what you have, stop sharing it — puts the expected change in behaviour in the audience, not just in the studios and platforms that make and host the material.
A possession offence makes viewers potential defendants. The review's worry was normalisation: what young people come to expect from sex. Whether a criminal statute changes that expectation, or only relocates the material, is the part nobody can currently demonstrate.