UK government announces ban on three types of porn from early November
The government has confirmed that pornographic content depicting strangulation, incest or a person pretending to be underage will be banned in the UK from next month.
Coming into force on 6 November, the measure will make it illegal to 'possess or publish' pornographic content showing the above three categories.
Once the measures come into effect, the UK will have some of the strongest pornography regulations in the world, according to Sky News, and follows previously enforced measures which mean the Brits must provide age verification to enter adult sites.
"For many people, it is still easy to access harmful pornography online," justice minister Alex Davies-Jones said in a statement.
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"This isn’t about criminalising harmless sexual preferences. But porn can shape what people think a healthy relationship looks like, especially young people.
"Content that normalises, or even glorifies, violence against women is dangerous and can blur the line with what is acceptable in real life."
The move is the latest in an ongoing crackdown aimed at combating the negative effects which sexual content has on women and girls.
According to statistics revealed in LADbible's recent FFS campaign, almost one in two respondents revealed that pornography shaped their expectations of real-life sex. At the same time, almost 50 percent of men said it was their main source of sex education.
Meanwhile, two-thirds of Gen Z admitted they'd been watching pornographic content since childhood.
So when available sexual content depicts acts such as underage or incestual roleplay as well as strangulation, which can cause life-limiting injuries, it's obvious how it can shape harmful views for young people when it comes to sex and relationships.
According to a study published by the Institute for Addressing Strangulation in 2024, more than a third of 16- to 34-year-old adults reported being strangled or choked at least once during consensual sex. When it came to 16- to 17-year-olds who were sexually active, 43 percent admitted they had been subjected to strangulation.
"It is very good news these offences will come into force, and not a moment too soon," said Conservative peer Baroness Gabby Bertin, who conducted a review into pornography in 2025.
"This change in law alongside better enforcement and stronger regulation will send the unequivocal signal not only to the companies that host and facilitate porn but also to wider society that extreme and violent content that encourages real-life harm is not acceptable."
The move has been welcomed by the End Violence Against Women Coalition, with interim director Janaya Walker calling it an 'important step towards tackling the normalisation of violence against women and girls'.
“The introduction of this offence is an important recognition of the harm caused by violent pornography and the need to hold an industry accountable for content that depicts and profits from violence against women and girls," she said.
Topics: Adult Industry, UK News
Brenna Cooper