The Government has announced that the depiction of strangulation in pornography will be designated as a ‘priority offence’ under the Online Safety Act 2023.

We have commented previously on similar recent designations in relation to cyberflashing (here) and self-harm content (here). Such designations are made by the Secretary of State and are deemed to reflect the most serious and prevalent illegal content or activity, against which companies must take specific measures.

As the Government press release explains, the decision to include the depiction of strangulation as a priority offence means that platforms will be required to take “proactive measures to prevent users from seeing illegal strangulation and suffocation content. This could include companies using automated systems to pre-emptively detect and hide the images, moderation tools or stricter content policies to prevent abusive content from circulating”.

At the same time, the Government has announced that it has laid a number of amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill in this area. First, it will criminalise the possession and publication of images depicting strangulation and suffocation. Second, it will extend the time limit for prosecuting perpetrators of intimate image abuse, increasing it from six months to up to three years after the offence was committed, thereby “giving victims crucial time and breathing space to come forward”.

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