UK government cracks down on choking porn

Online pornography showing strangulations and choking will be made illegal in the UK.

Mainstream pornography sites have a multitude of videos containing choking content, which the UK government is now attempting to curb by making it illegal.

The proliferation of this type of content is supposedly normalizing this behaviour in real life and is particularly influential among younger people.

This practice has become a “sexual norm” particularly among younger people who may not be “aware of the long-term harm,” the UK’s Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology said in a statement.

The publishing and possession of this content will soon become a criminal offence under the Crime and Policing Bill, which is making its way through Parliament.

Online platforms are also required to report said content, as well as proactively detect it in their catalogs.

If they turn a blind eye, online platforms could face penalties or enforcement action by Ofcom, the UK’s communications watchdog.

“​​We’re also holding tech companies to account and making sure they stop this content before it can spread. We are determined to make sure women and girls can go online without fear of violence or exploitation,” Tech Secretary Liz Kendall said.

The UK government has said that big tech companies will need to take certain proactive measures, such as automated systems to detect and remove this type of imagery.

Furthermore, moderation tools and stricter content policies may need to be enforced to protect young people and women from exposure to it.

“The depiction of strangulation in pornography will be designated as a priority offence under the Online Safety Act, meaning platforms will be held accountable and ensure content does not spread, which can lead to normalizing harmful practices in people’s private lives,” the UK governmental department said.

Whether the UK government will be able to hold big tech companies accountable for the type of content that proliferates on their platforms is questionable.

Despite the Online Safety Act, which has set higher standards for social media companies, more and more children have been exposed to pornography since the act’s approval in the country.

Research published by Dame Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner for England, has found that exposure to pornography has increased since 2023, when rules to protect the public online were first introduced in the UK.

More than a quarter (27%) of the participants of the survey now said they had seen porn online by age 11. Some even reported being “aged six or younger” when asked about their first exposure to adult content.

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