Policy paper

Crime and Policing Act 2026: pornography factsheet

Updated 30 September 2026

What are we going to do?

Recognising the harms that some forms of pornography can have in shaping behaviours offline, we are criminalising possession and publication of particularly egregious content. Baroness Bertin’s Independent Pornography Review identified certain types of activities depicted in pornography that can shape and influence how we conduct ourselves in sexual relationships, such as strangulation, or could contribute to an interest in behaviour that would otherwise be illegal in real life, such as child sexual abuse.

Measures in the Act

• Criminalise the possession and publication of pornography portraying strangulation or suffocation.

• Criminalise the possession and publication of pornography that depicts penetrative sex between persons who a reasonable person would think are related or who are pretending to be related (so-called “incest porn”). This will include depictions of step-incest where one or both of the persons is portrayed to be under-18.

• Criminalise the possession of pornography that portrays sexual activity with a child under-16 (so-called “adults roleplaying as children”).

• Place a duty on ministers to report to Parliament, within 12 months of Royal Assent, on the role of internet platforms in verifying the age and consent of persons appearing in pornographic content on their services and conferring regulation-making powers on ministers to give effect to the outcome of this work.

How are we going to do it?

Strangulation & Suffocation, Incest and Adults Roleplaying as Children offences

We are criminalising the possession and publication of certain types of pornographic images.

It will be criminal to possess or publish:

1. Pornographic images that portray in an explicit and realistic way, a person strangling or suffocating another, and a reasonable person looking at the image would think that persons were real. The offence would therefore include realistic AI generated images. Strangle and suffocate are intended to carry their ordinary meanings.

2. Pornographic images that portray in an explicit and realistic way, sexual activity between family members. The offence is committed if a reasonable person looking at the image would think that the persons depicted were real, and taking into account any sound or information associated with the image a reasonable person would think the person were related or pretending to be related. The meaning of relation includes stepparents, stepsiblings and foster parents where one of the persons is portrayed to be under the age of 18 – mirroring sexual activity that would be illegal in real life.

3. Pornographic images that portray in an explicit and realistic way, sexual activity, where a reasonable person looking at the image and taking into account any sound or information associated, would think that at least one person in the image was or was pretending to be, under the age of 16. This again mirrors illegal conduct in real life.

These new offences will be listed as priority offences under the Online Safety Act 2023, obligating platforms to take proactive and proportionate steps to stop this harmful material from appearing online.

Verification of age and consent

The Government’s Joint Team on pornography are conducting a 6-month sprint into the regulation of on-line pornography and how to achieve parity between off-line and on-line. The outcome of this work will help inform the Government’s consideration of age and consent verification. Given, the complexities in the above the Government have committed to review and report on the role of internet providers in age and consent verification.

Background

Strangulation & Suffocation, Incest and Adults Roleplaying as Children offences:

The Independent Pornography Review led by Baroness Bertin was published on 27 February 2025. It highlighted the role of pornography in shaping sexual behaviour. What was clear from the Review was that pornography depicting strangulation is rife online. There is evidence suggesting that strangulation in sex is becoming more commonplace in real life - particularly among young people who may be unaware of the risks and serious harm it can cause. The Review also considered how other harmful pornographic content, which is widely available and accessible, could be normalising illegal behaviour such as child sexual abuse or familial sexual relationships.

Verification of age and consent:

The OSA requires in-scope internet services to ensure content depicting priority offences is not on their webpages, and when encountered it is removed. This includes pornographic material where there is no consent, or one of the individuals appearing in the content is under 18 years old.

The underlying acts are also criminal offences. Possession of such material and the distribution of it can also be criminal offence. This is a complex issue, including how the withdrawal of consent could work in the context of commercial contracts.

Frequently asked questions

Strangulation & Suffocation, Incest and Adults Roleplaying as Children Offences:

How will these offences be enforced online (given that they are already prohibited offline)?

The measures will be listed as priority offences under Online Safety Act 2023 which places duties on online platforms to have systems and processes in place to prevent UK users from encountering strangulation, suffocation, and incest and adults role playing as children content.

What will this actually mean for platforms?

Platforms are required to take a more proactive approach. They must carry out specific risk assessments for that category of illegal content and put proportionate, safety-by-design measures in place to detect and remove content depicting incest before it reaches users.

These duties are tailored to the size and risk profile of the service and go beyond a purely reactive model. Ofcom has enforcement powers where services fail to meet these requirements, including a power to impose fines of up to £18 million or 10% of their qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is higher.

How will you know if it’s working?

Ofcom will be monitoring how platforms comply with their duties. They will be looking at what systems platforms have in place, how effective they are at removing content, and how quickly they respond.

Platforms will need to demonstrate they are taking this seriously. If they are not doing enough, Ofcom has powers to step in.

How many people do you expect to be caught through this legislation?

The Government will produce an impact assessment to look at this, as is standard practice after Royal Assent.

But perpetrators can expect to face the full face of the law.

How much of this content exists online?

The Government will produce an impact assessment to look at this, as is standard practice after Royal Assent.

But perpetrators can expect to face the full face of the law.

How will the offence apply to existing content that people possess currently?

The criminal offences cover possession which is a continuing act. This means that, once the measures are commenced, possession of these types of pornography will then be illegal.

The indecent images of children regime applies to images of a person under the age of 18.

Why does government’s offence relate to pornographic images of sexual activity with a person under 16, rather than 18?

The objective for the offence of pornography depicting sexual activity with a person under 16 is to criminalise the possession and publication of pornographic depictions of illegal sexual conduct.

If a pornographic image showed a person who is in fact under the age of 18, this would be criminalised under the indecent images of children regime.

The harmful pornography that government aims to target with this amendment is where a person over the age of 18 is portraying a person under the age of 16 and is therefore portraying sexual conduct which is illegal in real-life and risks the normalisation of child sexual abuse.

And this is just the start. The ongoing parity sprint being undertaken by the Government’s joint pornography team will ensure that ‘grey areas’ not caught by this offence, which are illegal offline, will be addressed. As we have said - what is illegal offline, should be illegal online.