UK porn ban: strangulation and incest pornography becomes illegal on 6 November

"If you've got this material, delete it. If you're sharing it, stop," said justice minister Alex Davies-Jones on Thursday, as the government confirmed the date it has been building towards for months: from 6 November, some of the most violent categories of pornography will be flatly illegal in England and Wales. Not just to make or sell — to possess.

It is one of the biggest expansions of British pornography law in years, and it lands after sustained cross-party pressure and a disturbing independent review. Here is what is changing, and what it means for anyone who watches, shares or hosts this material.

What exactly is being banned?

From 6 November 2026, it will be a criminal offence to possess or publish pornography that falls into three categories. The first is porn depicting strangulation or suffocation. The second covers sexual activity between people who are related — or who are pretending to be related. The third bans material showing adults roleplaying as children under 16.

The government says the move follows sustained pressure from MPs of all parties, who argued the negative impact of this material on women and girls had become impossible to ignore. MPs previously told Sky News the new measures could give Britain some of the strongest pornography regulation anywhere in the world.

Davies-Jones has stressed the legislation is not about policing what consenting adults do in private: "This isn't about criminalising harmless sexual preferences," she said. The target is commercial material that depicts violence and degradation — the kind of content she argues teaches young viewers that abuse is normal.

The review that started it all

None of this came out of nowhere. The blueprint is the independent review of pornography regulation published in 2025 by Conservative peer Baroness Gabby Bertin, commissioned by Rishi Sunak's government. Its findings were blunt. Depictions of choking were, the review found, "rife" on the most popular pornography sites in the world, and their sheer volume had helped normalise the act among young people.

Bertin has long argued that strangulation in pornography has become "totally normalised" — her phrase — "not a moment too soon," she said of Thursday's announcement. Her review found that pornography showing women being choked can have what she called "devastating" real-world consequences.

The single most quoted detail in her report is one that has followed the whole debate. The review cited the account of a 14-year-old boy who asked a teacher how to choke girls during sex — something he had picked up online. The review warned that young people imitating what they see could face "devastating consequences."

She told the Press Association the new law would "send the unequivocal signal" to the companies that host and profit from pornography — and to wider society — that "extreme and violent content that encourages real-life harm is not acceptable."

The statistic that made the case

If there is one number that explains why ministers moved, it is this. A 2024 study by the Institute for Addressing Strangulation found that more than a third of adults aged 16 to 34 said they had been strangled or choked at least once during consensual sex.

Campaigners read that figure as evidence of cause and effect: millions of young people have grown up with streaming pornography in which choking is presented as standard, and the practice has migrated from screens into bedrooms. Sky News's investigation by reporter Phoebe Southworth found clips showing women wearing chains like necklaces, with captions mocking them for being unable to breathe.

Note the old law's odd asymmetry. Non-fatal strangulation has already been a criminal offence in England and Wales when it happens without consent. But until now, filming it and selling it to millions of viewers was perfectly legal. Thursday's announcement closes that gap.

How the law works — and where it applies

The legal machinery sits in the Crime and Policing Bill, which became law in April 2026. Amendments to that Bill were specifically designed to capture this category of content and turn it into criminal offences — and they apply in England and Wales.

Davies-Jones framed the whole package around the government's pledge to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. "For many people, it is still easy to access harmful pornography online," she said. "Porn can shape what people think a healthy relationship looks like, especially young people." She argued content that "normalises, or even glorifies, violence against women is dangerous and can blur the line with what is acceptable in real life."

What is not yet fully clear is the enforcement picture — how police and prosecutors will prioritise possession cases, and how quickly the big platforms move to scrub the material. Those details will matter enormously in the weeks after 6 November, and this story is far from over.

Sources

• Sky News / Capital FM — UK to ban three types of extreme pornography from next month
• MyJoyOnline (PA wire) — Porn showing choking or incest to be banned from early November
• The Oldham Times (PA wire) — Ban on strangulation and incest in porn to come into force in November

No dedicated YouTube video for this specific announcement could be verified from a reputable outlet at the time of writing. Sky News's special report on strangulation in pornography is embedded in the Sky News / Capital FM report linked above.