Services that publish pornographic content and can be reached from the UK must use age assurance that Ofcom calls “highly effective”. Ofcom enforces this and has fined providers.
| Law | Online Safety Act 2023 (Part 5) |
| Regulator | Ofcom |
| In force since | 25 July 2025 |
| Penalties | Fines up to £18 million or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater; courts can order blocking (Ofcom). |
According to the Ministry of Justice guidance of 16 October 2026 (checked 20 October 2026), from 6 November 2026 it is a criminal offence in England and Wales to possess or publish pornographic images that explicitly and realistically depict strangulation or suffocation; penetrative sexual activity between people a reasonable person would think are related, or pretending to be related, in certain ways, including certain step and foster relationships where one person is, or is pretending to be, under 18; or sexual activity where a reasonable person would think at least one person is, or is pretending to be, under 16. The guidance says the offences only capture images that appear, to a reasonable person, to show real people.
The start date comes from SI 2026/1090 (regulation 2), which brings sections 104, 106 and 107 of the Act into force on 6 November 2026.
The guidance gives these maximum penalties: for possession, 2 years’ imprisonment (strangulation or suffocation, or certain relatives) and 3 years (a person who is, or is pretending to be, under 16); for publication, 5 years for all of the offences. It also describes defences, for example for a person who had not seen the image and had no cause to suspect what it showed.
Section 104(5) adds the strangulation and suffocation offence (s. 67A Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008) to the priority offences in Schedule 7 of the Online Safety Act 2023.
We don’t flag this in scans: our scanner never opens your media, so it doesn’t see what your catalogue shows.
Sources: Ministry of Justice guidance (GOV.UK) · Crime and Policing Act 2026, ss. 104–107 · SI 2026/1090
Ofcom’s guidance explains which age-assurance methods can be “highly effective”; self-declaration is not one of them. Ofcom also explains that the check has to sit before the content, not after it.
No. Ofcom’s guidance says self-declaration is not highly effective age assurance. See the guidance linked below for the methods it discusses.
Not legal advice. This page summarises and links to primary sources; it does not tell you what the law requires of your specific site.