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Politics Home Article | Government Looking At Bringing In Tougher Porn Laws
The government is considering further criminal offences relating to extreme pornography (Alamy)
5 min read
Exclusive: The government is exploring tougher regulation of online pornography as part of a broader push to make the internet safer, but there are internal divisions over how far to go and who would be responsible for enforcement.
Senior figures in the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the Home Office are pushing for a stronger regulatory and criminal law approach, with No 10 also broadly sympathetic to tighter controls, PoliticsHome understands.
However, government sources have said the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is more cautious about imposing tougher guardrails on online content.
Toughening the laws around online pornography involves multiple departments: The MOJ has responsibility for the criminal justice framework around pornography, the Home Office determines whether the police have the powers and tools to investigate and act on illegal pornographic content, and DSIT oversees the regulatory framework for online content and tech platforms.
Harmful content online is a growing concern within the Labour government, with many Labour backbenchers urging ministers to do more to make the internet safer in the UK.
In recent weeks, the government has resisted calls to leave Elon Musk’s X in response to reports of its generative AI tool, Grok, creating nudified and sexualised images of women and children. The website later said that the tool would no longer be able to undress pictures of real people.
The government has also launched a consultation on whether to restrict social media access for under-16s, after an amendment calling for a ban was passed in the House of Lords last week.
The idea, supported by Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives, is popular with the general public, according to opinion polls, and Labour MPs have reported receiving large numbers of emails from constituents calling for a ban. However, there is scepticism within Keir Starmer’s cabinet about how effective an under-16 social media ban would be in practice.
The government has already tabled an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill to make it a criminal offence to possess or publish pornography depicting strangulation or suffocation, a measure ministers have argued reflects evidence about the normalisation of dangerous sexual practices online.
Mandatory age checks to access porn websites were introduced last year under the Online Safety Act, leading to Pornhub announcing that it will stop new users accessing its site in the UK from next week. The website said in October that its traffic was down 77 per cent in the UK since the age checks came in and began to be enforced by the internet regulator Ofcom.
However, PoliticsHome understands that ministers are exploring whether the law should go further, including the creation of further offences linked to extreme pornography, and whether regulators should be given stronger enforcement powers to tackle illegal content more effectively. Officials are working closely with the police and the Crown Prosecution Service on the proposals.
Baroness Bertin published the Independent Pornography Review in February 2025, which has already shaped parts of the government’s approach. Following recommendations from the review, she has tabled an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill seeking to expand the definition of “extreme pornography” to explicitly cover depictions of incest, but this has not yet been adopted by the government.
The government is still considering how a tougher regime would be enforced, particularly after Technology Secretary Liz Kendall has been increasingly critical of Ofcom’s slow pace in enforcing the Online Safety Act.
Some ministers favour giving the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) a greater role in overseeing online pornographic content, extending the logic of offline film classification into the digital space.
Figures in DSIT, however, are understood to be more sceptical about expanding the remit of existing regulators or introducing broad content-classification duties online. Instead, the department has floated alternative approaches, including the idea of a specialist unit focused on pornography regulation and enforcement, rather than an extension of existing oversight, PoliticsHome understands.
With the Labour government having promised to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) by 2034, the MoJ and Home Office have increasingly framed pornography regulation as a criminal justice and violence-prevention issue. DSIT figures, however, remain wary of heavy-handed regulation that could prove difficult to implement, risk overreach into lawful content, or place significant burdens on tech platforms.
Bertin told PoliticsHome that she believes expanding content classification for online pornography is “essential”.
“We cannot carry on with a situation where online pornography allows and promotes violent, harmful content that would be illegal to distribute offline. We know how damaging this is to society, and particularly young people. The law in this regard needs to be amended and updated accordingly.”
She added that she also wants to see a “great deal more proactive auditing and spotchecking of sites to verify they are acting within the law and that the individuals in the content are over 18 and have consented”.
“Furthermore, sites that are operating outside of AV or allow illegal content should be shut down and blocked far quicker than they are currently, and a more effective reporting mechanism needs to be put in place,” she continued.
“They should not easily appear on searches, and search engines have a duty also to ensure this. I will be bringing forward amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill to reflect these changes and look forward to working with the government on this.”
PoliticsHome has contacted the government for comment.
