link to guidance gov.uk/guidance/crime-and-po…

🚨 Update on UK content ban! From November 6, 2026, it’s a criminal offence in England and Wales to possess or publish adult content that explicitly and realistically depicts strangulation or suffocation, blood-relative content like father-daughter or brother-sister, or anyone who appears to be under 16. Content you posted years ago counts. Step and foster scenarios are caught too, but only where one person is, or is pretending to be, under 18. Step content between adults is not covered. The government is direct about what to do. Possession and publication are “continuing acts,” so if you already hold or are still hosting content in these categories, you have to permanently delete it or take it down before November 6 to avoid an offence once the law starts. The penalties: up to 2 years for possessing strangulation or blood-relative content, up to 3 years for content depicting someone who appears under 16, and up to 5 years for publishing any of it. One detail creators should know. The guidance lists defences, including one for a person who directly participated in the act shown. It isn’t blanket protection, other criteria apply, but performers in their own content are not automatically in the same position as someone randomly holding a file. And enforcement is being built to match. This week the government tapped the British Board of Film Classification, the body that rates films and DVDs in the UK, for a pilot program to monitor online adult content for illegal and extreme material, per Sky News. Called the Audit of Internet Services pilot, it tests whether online content can be monitored and reported at scale the way the BBFC handles films. The BBFC has actively sought the role and says it stands ready to take it on. This traces back to Baroness Gabrielle Bertin, who led the push for the ban in Parliament. Her February 2025 review recommended appointing a body like the BBFC to audit platforms hosting adult content. The law and the auditor are arriving together. These are criminal offences in England and Wales. What it means for a creator based elsewhere is a jurisdiction question the guidance doesn’t settle, and it’s untested for this new law. If you’re in England or Wales, or you knowingly sell or distribute there, take this one seriously and get proper advice before November 6. This is reporting, not legal advice. A film board may soon be auditing online adult content in the UK. Would clear written rules from a regulator make your work easier, or just hand them a bigger net? Sources: gov.uk, Sky News, XBIZ