Five-year sentences: UK government cracks down on two porn categories

The UK government has added new amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill, which will criminalise two porn categories in a major tech crackdown. The new laws state that anyone who is found to be possessing or publishing pornography depicting incest or adults pretending to be children will be held criminally liable.

What do the new regulations state?

“The first of these vital measures will ban anyone from possessing or publishing harmful pornography that shows incest between family members, and sex between step or foster relations where one person is pretending to be under 18,” stated the UK government in an official press release.

The UK government is now also obligating online pornography platforms to ensure that everyone who appears in the content is over the age of 18 and has given their consent to appear in the content. They also hold the right to withdraw that consent at any time.

Possession and publication offences can carry a sentence of two to five years

As per the press release, publication of pornography depicting adults pretending to be children or depicting incest will carry a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment.

Possession of pornography depicting adults roleplaying as children will carry a maximum sentence of three years, and possession of pornography depicting incest will carry a maximum sentence of two years.

Tech execs to take a hit if they fail to protect citizens

According to the UK government, tech executives could also be held criminally liable to imprisonment or fines if their online platforms fail to remove nonconsensual pornographic images. Under the new regulations, the failure to remove people’s leaked intimate images will be considered an offence.

The move follows a streamlined effort from campaigners and advocates for the change, stating that this kind of online content carries a risk of normalising child sexual abuse. 

Alex Davies-Jones, the Minister for Victims and Tackling Violence Against Girls, stated, “We have been clear that vile online pornography has real-life consequences for all of us and I’d like to thank every brave campaigner who has worked with us to deliver this vital step. Today we are sending a powerful message: we will stamp out misogynistic and harmful content online and create a safer world.”

UK government taking on ‘abusive’ online content in an attempt to prevent violence

The measure, which was officially announced on Friday, April 10, is part of a commitment by the UK government to “tackle abusive online content and halve violence against women and girls,” as well as protect the public from “vile online pornography.”

It will also attempt to stymie the leaks of nonconsensual online content, which has affected “too many women,” stated Online Safety Minister Kanishka Narayan.

In September of last year, a German woman filed a lawsuit against tech giant Google after unknown hackers broke into the woman’s private data cloud and leaked nude photos and pornographic videos of her with her husband, spreading them on various internet sites. Despite reported URLs being de-listed, images and videos continued to appear in Google searches, as the woman’s identity was leaked along with the images.

This initiative follows a string of other moves made by the UK government in an effort to stymie harmful online content.

These moves include:

• Repealing the presumption of parental involvement  
• Restricting parental responsibility from people who have been convicted of a serious sexual offence against any child. 
• Launching a new and improved Victims Code.
• Investing more than £1 billion (more than €1.15 billion) as part of its mission to fight violence against women and girls, with £550 million invested (just over €630 million) for victims’ services.
• A ban on depictions of strangulation in pornography.
• A ban on nudification apps.

Baroness Bertin, Lead reviewer of the Independent Pornography Review, said in a statement that “the people who appear in pornography are at a high risk of exploitation, coercion and violence.”

“Given the ongoing impact of pornography on violence against women and children, I and others across the political divide have worked hard to ensure that this issue has remained in the spotlight.”