UK to Ban Extreme Pornography Depicting Incest and Choking

The United Kingdom will ban the possession and publication of pornographic content depicting incest and choking from early November, according to reports. The move is being described as a "big step" towards tackling the normalisation of sexual violence.

The decision follows years of concern about the increasing prevalence of extreme material online. Singer Billie Eilish has spoken openly about watching pornography from around the age of 11, saying it led to nightmares and affected her early sexual experiences. "The first few times I had sex, I didn't say 'no' to things that weren't good," she said in an interview with Howard Stern.

Clare McGlynn, a law professor at Durham University, told The Conversation Weekly that incest and choking have become common in online pornography, whereas such material was almost non-existent in the 1980s. She said large platforms use algorithms to push users towards more extreme content to keep them engaged.

"Their business model is based on keeping you engaged. They want us to stay on the platform as long as possible," McGlynn said. "The way they achieve that is by constantly offering new content, not necessarily what we asked for, but more extreme, polarising and shocking content."

Research involving 16,000 young people found that frequent pornography viewing, especially at an early age, is a major risk factor for problematic sexual behaviour in early adolescent boys. Studies in Australia and the US also suggest that more pornography consumption is linked to a greater likelihood of practising choking.

The new UK rules aim to curb the availability of such content, though details on how they will be enforced have not yet been announced.