LONDON—The United Kingdom's Parliament has successfully banned entire categories of pornography with the royal assent of the Crime and Policing Bill.
Parliament has debated amendments since early 2025 to the sweeping law enforcement reform measures to ban and even criminalize certain forms of pornography, including choking, age-play, and some types of "step-family" content.
When a bill receives royal assent in the U.K.'s system of government, it means that it is granted the formal endorsement of the sovereign. The sovereign in this case is King Charles III, despite the position being primarily ceremonial and one of cultural significance. Note, royal assent is simply a formality at this point.
The bill will prohibit the depiction of choking, as well as adult performers depicting themselves as minors. Further, the amendments ban depictions of sexual activity between "step and foster relations" where one person is "pretending" to be under the age of 18. Additionally, a once-proposed blanket ban on all depictions of "taboo" and "step" relations has been shelved.
Consent withdrawal provisions were additionally shelved due to being viewed as counterproductive.
Corey Silverstein, an attorney representing adult industry clients in the United States and the United Kingdom, shared his concern and limited relief at the passage of the law.
"On one hand, I’m satisfied to see that the revocation of consent and the blanket 'step' ban were removed; however, I am very concerned about the choking ban because of its ambiguity. i.e., what actually constitutes 'strangulation' remains undefined, and given that this is a criminal law, the confusion may lead to criminal charges," Silverstein said.
"Moreover, we now need to watch carefully for the Visa and Mastercard response to this law, as major changes to processing rules may follow," he added.
Lawrence Walters, an attorney also representing adult industry clients, added to this sentiment, telling AVN, "Unfortunately, it appears that the U.K. has quickly abandoned its longstanding commitment to freedom of speech and is going down the slippery slope of content bans.
"One person’s 'harmful' content is another person’s treasure," he said. "Government officials should not be in the business of censorship. If Ofcom tries to enforce this law in the United States, it will run headlong into our cherished protection of speech under the First Amendment."
Mike Stabile, the director of public policy and a spokesperson for adult industry trade group the Free Speech Coalition, also shared concern.
"While many of the provisions of the bill reflect standards already met by the industry, we’re concerned about its vague language and the ideological way in which it was advanced," Stabile said. "Censorship thrives on ambiguity, and, unfortunately, many of the provisions are confusing.
"We will continue to monitor the bill and provide guidance on compliance with the legislation for our members in the coming weeks," he added.
