Lawyers and adult-industry professionals have warned that proposed UK restrictions on sexually explicit content could go beyond material that depicts violence, potentially penalizing relatively innocuous images and creating risks for people who store such content on their phones, hard drives or cloud accounts. The British government says the measures are intended to prevent content that normalizes violence against women, promotes illegal activity and causes real-world harm.
“The UK is really pushing for restrictions on free speech,” said Michael Fattolosi, an adult-industry lawyer based in Italy. “This is just something they’re throwing on top of a mountain of restrictions.”
In a statement to WIRED, British Ministry of Justice spokeswoman Clara Coleman denied that the bill was intended to curb sexual expression.
“We are committed to halving violence against women and girls within 10 years, and that includes preventing harm before it starts,” Coleman said. “The law isn’t about controlling people’s sexual freedom; it’s about content that normalizes violence against women, promotes illegal activity, and can cause real-world harm.”
Concerns about broad wording
Lawyer Mr Jackman said there was nothing wrong with the clause banning strangulation, noting that the dangers of strangulation have been established and that UK law already prohibits it. However, he cautioned that the legislation is written so broadly that even relatively innocuous content could be penalized.
“It will be up to the courts to decide this on a case-by-case basis, but given that facesitting by a vagina owner is now considered to be suffocation, penile penetration could similarly be considered suffocation because it obstructs the airway,” he said.
In other words, he argued, Britain should have banned blow jobs in online pornography.
Risks for people storing content in the UK
The law currently applies only to consumers and creators in the UK. Fattolosi is particularly concerned about the harsh penalties for “possession” of the images covered by the legislation. The law defines possession as storing images on a mobile phone, hard drive or cloud storage.
“As far as creators are concerned, if you’re visiting the UK, if you’re going to the UK for a holiday, if you’re going to the UK for a conference, you probably need to be careful about what you store on your phone,” he said.
Potential impact on OnlyFans
The subscription-based platform OnlyFans could be particularly vulnerable, Fattolosi added. Most American pornographic companies do not have a large presence in the UK, which could make it difficult for Ofcom to pursue them. OnlyFans, however, has a stronger connection to the country: its parent company, Phoenix International Limited, is based in the UK and has already received a large fine from a government agency over failures to comply with age-disclosure requirements.
Source: www.wired.com
