New Criminal Offence: It will be illegal to possess or publish pornographic images or videos depicting strangulation or suffocation.
The UK government has made an important announcement: it will soon be a criminal offence for anyone to possess or publish pornography that shows strangulation (choking) or suffocation. This new law is a serious move to protect women and girls and stop people from thinking that sexual violence is normal or acceptable.
Why is the UK banning this content now?
The ban is happening because of strong evidence showing that this type of content is harmful and widespread online.
- Closing a Loophole: While the act of non-fatal strangulation is already illegal in the UK because it’s a serious act of violence, showing it in online porn was not specifically banned. Ministers realised this was a dangerous gap, as the content normalises a violent act.
- Fueling Violence: An independent review found that this pornographic material is very common and encourages violent behaviour by presenting choking or suffocation as a normal or exciting part of sex.
- Protecting Public Safety: Technology Minister Liz Kendall called the material “vile and dangerous.” The government says this isn’t about being overly moral; it’s about public safety and stopping a culture of abuse that starts online. Strangulation, even if it doesn’t kill, can cause serious, often invisible, harm.
How will the ban be enforced?
The government isn’t just banning the content; they’re making sure huge online companies and social media platforms take action, too.
- The Online Safety Act (OSA): These new rules are being added to the existing Online Safety Act. This law already requires sites hosting harmful material (like suicide or self-harm content) to protect users.
- Platform Duties: Companies that host this content will now be legally required to take “proactive steps” to stop people from finding or sharing it in the UK. This means they must use better technology to detect and remove the content quickly.
- Massive Fines: If a company fails to protect its users and doesn’t remove this illegal material, they face huge fines—up to £18 million or 10% of their global income, whichever is higher. This makes it very costly for platforms to ignore the law.
The goal is to use both the criminal law (to punish individuals who possess or share it) and the power of massive fines (to force platforms to remove it).
Support for Victims
The government is also improving support for people who are victims of other forms of online abuse, like intimate-image abuse (‘revenge porn’).
- Longer Reporting Time: Victims will now have three years instead of just six months to report the offence.
- Time to Process: Officials know that victims often need a lot of time to process what happened, gather evidence, and feel safe enough to come forward. This longer period aims to give survivors a better chance at getting justice.
What does this mean?
The new law targets content that explicitly shows strangulation or suffocation in pornography. It will not affect things like news reports, academic discussions, or legitimate artistic work. The UK hopes this combined approach—criminal law and strict duties on tech companies—will make it a much harder place for violent sexual material to exist and set an example for other countries to follow.
