Overview
- Ministers have tabled amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill to criminalise possessing or publishing pornography depicting strangulation or suffocation, which is not currently illegal online.
- The content would be designated a priority offence under online safety rules, requiring platforms to proactively block it for UK users, with Ofcom able to levy fines of up to £18 million for failures.
- The proposals draw on Baroness Gabby Bertin’s government-commissioned review, which found choking imagery helps entrench the practice as a sexual norm and highlighted associated health risks.
- A separate amendment would extend the window for victims to report intimate-image abuse from six months to three years to improve access to justice.
- The BBFC and specialist advocates welcomed the plan, while some campaigners questioned enforcement and technical feasibility as the House of Lords begins further scrutiny.