Research · November 2026
Is your porn legal?
Since 6 November, some porn is a crime to own in England and Wales. Most of it isn’t. Can you tell which is which?
13 cards. Swipe right if it’s legal, left if it’s not.
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Things you probably didn’t know
The rules came in on 6 November with three weeks’ notice. Here’s what most people have missed.
It isn’t the law in Scotland or Northern Ireland yet.
Both are written into the Act, but neither has been switched on. Scotland’s version will be stricter when it starts: your own consensual video won’t be safe there. Older extreme porn laws still apply in both.
Crime and Policing Act 2026 s.105 and s.255
Choking itself isn’t the crime here.
Consensual choking that leaves no injury isn’t an offence. Filming it and sharing it can be. Doctors warn there’s no safe way to strangle someone, and once it causes injury, consent stops being a defence.
Serious Crime Act 2015 s.75A
Strangulation porn was arguably illegal already.
The 2008 extreme porn law covers acts that threaten someone’s life. In 2025 the government admitted that “graphic strangulation pornography is illegal but is not always being treated as such.”
CJIA 2008 s.63(7); government letter to Baroness Bertin, February 2025
Britain tried something like this in 2014.
UK porn sites were barred from showing erotic asphyxiation and face-sitting. Protesters staged a mass face-sitting outside Parliament. The rules were relaxed in 2019.
Audiovisual Media Services Regulations 2014
Nobody knows if face-sitting counts.
The law doesn’t define strangling or suffocating. The Ministry of Justice says suffocation can include covering someone’s nose and mouth. The courts will decide the rest.
CJIA 2008 s.67A
Just watching? Nobody’s sure.
The crime is having the image, not watching it. But streaming can leave copies on your device, and no court has tested that under the new law yet.
CJIA 2008 s.67A(1)
Netflix rates its own shows.
BBFC certificates exempt films and TV. Netflix originals carry ratings Netflix gives itself under a voluntary BBFC deal, and the exemption was written with DVDs in mind. A drama’s sex scenes aren’t porn in law anyway, so Bridgerton is fine.
CJIA 2008 s.64; Video Recordings Act 1984 s.4
Every defence is yours to prove.
If you’re charged, it’s up to you to show you had a defence, not up to the prosecution to show you didn’t. Every case also needs the Director of Public Prosecutions to agree to it.
CJIA 2008 s.67B and s.67A(6)
What changed
The Crime and Policing Act 2026 made it a crime in England and Wales to own or share porn that shows strangulation or suffocation, sex between relatives (real or pretend), or adults pretending to be under 16. Owning it carries up to 2 years in prison, or 3 for the under-16 material. Sharing it carries up to 5. The rules apply to images that look real, including AI.
About this quiz
We wrote each scenario from the Act and the Ministry of Justice’s guidance, and every answer reflects the law in England and Wales from 6 November 2026. Your answers are stored anonymously and may be used in Erobella research. This is a quiz, not legal advice.
CJIA means the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, as amended by the Crime and Policing Act 2026.
For journalists
For results, comment from Brenda Jensen, Head of Data & Research at Erobella, or anything else, contact Dara Weston, PR Manager.