A new UK law banning porn featuring choking and “fauxcest,” or simulated incest, may have unintended consequences for content creators and smut fans all over the world, some experts warn.
As of November 6, amendments to the Crime and Policing Act will outlaw the “possession or publication of pornographic images of strangulation or suffocation”—a law intended to curb violence against women and girls. Yet some experts warn that the legislation is written broadly enough that it could potentially criminalize far more innocuous content, including “breast smothering,” “jeans facesitting,” and even potentially oral sex, ostensibly because people could have their airways impeded during these activities.
“I would encourage both content creators and consumers to underscore the risks of this law,” says Myles Jackman, an obscenity lawyer in the UK. “Because to me, it genuinely seems like one of the greatest acts of suppression of free speech in global history.”
The new amendments were inspired by a lengthy pornography review authored by Baroness Gabby Bertin, a Conservative member of the UK House of Lords. The legislation bans various depictions of sex acts, including “pornographic images of strangulation or suffocation,” as well as content showing performers role-playing as minors under the age of 16.
It also takes aim at “fauxcest,” an extremely popular porn niche that depicts simulated sexual relations between family members who are not related by blood, such as stepsiblings or stepparents. In Bertin’s review recommending the ban on such content, she cites “anecdotal evidence” suggesting that fauxcest “can be used between an abuser and child to permit interfamily child sex abuse,” describing it as a “fig-leaf” of sorts for actual sexual abuse.
Under the new law, those caught distributing or in possession of such content face up to five years in prison and a fine.
The impending UK legislation has prompted panic among some adult creators, many of whom are currently combing through their content libraries and removing clips that could get swept up in the ban.
“The problem is always how broad [the legislation] is,” says Alexandra Snow, an adult content creator and educator. “And we won’t know how they’re going to interpret it until they start making people’s lives hell.”
Snow says she is particularly concerned about how the aspect of the legislation pertaining to “suffocation or strangulation” will affect kink creators, who may make content related to collaring or leather fetishes. She’s also worried about AI image-recognition software, which is already in widespread use among the platforms, potentially flagging content that isn’t violative at all. “They use a very broad, heavy-handed approach,” she says.
Cami Strella, an OnlyFans creator in the US who estimates that 60 to 70 percent of her content depicts some form of role-play, including step-“fauxcest,” is also concerned about the legislation. She says that the content she makes is “just playing a fantasy,” and that more sex education and literacy is required to teach people about the risks of various behaviors.
“I don’t think banning it is going to do anything,” she says. “If anything, it’ll just push even worse content that is actually illegal or immoral underground, so you’ll have to access it away from these platforms. This is just a slippery slope we’re getting into.”
The new UK law is seemingly targeted at the trend of choking in porn, which has been linked to real-life instances of fatal choking during sex. Though the practice is highly risky, potentially leading to brain damage or death, it’s increasingly common among young adults, largely due to the prevalence of eroticized choking depictions in the media and in porn. The death of a 16-year-old Australian girl in August, who authorities say lost consciousness after she was choked consensually during sex, has led to renewed calls for legislation banning depictions of the practice in online porn, which has “absolutely sort of normalized this kind of sexual violence,” Bertin recently told the BBC.
The UK has a history of imposing stringent restrictions on internet pornography, particularly compared to the United States, where statutes like Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 largely exempt platforms from liability for hosting objectionable content. Long before many US states started requiring users to verify their ages before visiting porn sites, for instance, the UK communications regulation agency Ofcom has been slapping websites with fines of up to 10 percent of their worldwide revenue for failing to comply with age-verification requirements.
“The UK is really pushing for limits on free speech,” says Michael Fattorosi, an adult industry attorney based in Italy. “This is just something they’re throwing on top of the heap of restrictions.”
In a statement to WIRED, Clara Coleman, a spokesperson for the UK’s Ministry of Justice, denied that the legislation was intended to curb sexual expression. “We’re committed to halving violence against women and girls in a decade, and that includes preventing harm before it starts,” Coleman says. “[These] laws aren’t about policing people’s sexual freedom, they’re about cracking down on content that normalizes violence against women, encourages unlawful behavior, and can cause real-world harm.”
Jackman, the lawyer, says that he has no issue with the provision banning strangulation, as its risks are proven and there are existing laws banning strangulation in the UK. He cautions, however, that the law is written broadly enough that relatively innocuous content could also potentially be penalized.
“It would be up to a court to decide this on a case-by-case basis, but given that it would appear that face-sitting by a vagina owner is now arguably suffocation, the insertion of a penis could equally be considered suffocation because it blocks the airways,” he says. In other words, “the UK could have just banned blow jobs” in online pornography.
Though the law currently applies only to consumers and creators in the United Kingdom, the stiff penalties for “possession” of such images—which the law defines as an image being stored on a phone, a hard drive, or in cloud storage—is of particular concern to Fattorosi.
“As far as creators are concerned, if you visit the UK, if you’re going there on holiday, if you’re going there for a conference, you should probably be careful about what you keep on your phone,” he says.
The subscription-based platform OnlyFans is particularly vulnerable, he adds. Though most American porn companies don’t have a substantial presence in the UK, making it difficult for Ofcom to go after them, that doesn’t apply to OnlyFans. The subscription-based platform’s parent company, Fenix International Limited, is based in the United Kingdom and has already faced steep fines from the agency for failure to adhere to age-disclosure requirements.
“If I were OnlyFans,” Fattorosi says, “I’d be very worried about this.” (In a statement, OnlyFans tells WIRED the platform “complies with applicable laws and regulations in all jurisdictions in which it operates and has longstanding, proactive safety measures in place that meet UK legal requirements.”)
In advance of the new legislation taking effect, adult content platforms have issued updated guidelines for creators. The platform IWantClips has already started complying, publishing a new set of guidelines for creators and fans based in the UK and removing clips that could potentially be swept up in the legislation. The laundry list of sexual niches and categories banned now includes “breast smothering,” “ass smothering,” “jeans facesitting,” “BBW facesitting,” “plastic fetish,” “scissorhold,” and “butt drops.”
Trans Princess Jezebel, a dominatrix and adult content creator in the UK, says she has already started going through her content library on IWantClips and OnlyFans, removing videos that may be seen as violative. She’s heavily reliant on clips to advertise her services as a dominatrix, and she’s concerned that once the law takes effect on November 6, she’ll take a huge financial hit.
“When the state starts regulating which types of pornography people are allowed to watch, a dangerous precedent is set,” she tells WIRED in an email. “Where will it end?”
But even though the UK is, for the time being, an outlier, Jackman warns it may not be for long. He says he has heard of lawmakers in Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain discussing similar legislation, as well as members of the evangelical lobby in the United States.
“In terms of free speech,” he says, “the lights are going out across the globe.”
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