The new offence will make it illegal to show online pornography depicting strangulation or suffocation, sexual activity between people who are related or pretending to be related, and scenarios where someone is pretending to be a child under 16.
The justice minister, Alex Davies-Jones, said the ban was not about criminalising harmless sexual preferences. She said porn can shape what young people think a healthy relationship looks like, and that content normalising or glorifying violence against women "can blur the line with what is acceptable in real life."
The change follows a review into pornography regulation led by the Conservative peer Gabby Bertin, which reported in 2025. Her report found that pornography showing women being choked can have "devastating" real-world consequences, and highlighted "disturbing" role-play involving incest and adults portraying children. It also described a "total absence of government scrutiny" of the pornography industry.
Non-fatal strangulation is already an offence in its own right, but it has not been illegal to show it online.
Lady Bertin welcomed the announcement, saying it was "good news these offences will come into force, and not a moment too soon." She said the change in law, alongside better enforcement and stronger regulation, would send an "unequivocal signal" to companies that host and facilitate porn, and to wider society, that extreme and violent content encouraging real-life harm is not acceptable.
The End Violence Against Women Coalition also welcomed the ban, describing it as "an important step towards tackling the normalisation of violence against women and girls." Its interim director, Janaya Walker, said strangulation can cause serious, lasting harm and even death, yet its widespread portrayal in pornography risks normalising this violence in sexual relationships, particularly among young people. She called on the government to ensure the ban is effectively enforced and to update the Online Safety Act so that online platforms are required to remove the content.