The United Kingdom (UK) government is moving to outlaw pornography showing acts of strangulation or suffocation, as part of wider efforts to curb violence against women and girls.
Under proposed amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill, both the possession and publication of such material will become criminal offences.
Online platforms will also be required to identify and remove this content proactively or risk enforcement action by media regulator Ofcom.
According to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), the change will make depictions of choking a "priority offence" under the Online Safety Act, placing it in the same category as child sexual abuse and terrorism content.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the government’s action was necessary to stop the spread of harmful and violent imagery.
"Viewing and sharing this kind of material online is not only deeply distressing, it is vile and dangerous. Those who post or promote such content are contributing to a culture of violence and abuse that has no place in our society," she said.
The decision follows an independent review led by Conservative peer Baroness Bertin, who warned of a "total absence of government scrutiny" in the pornography industry.
Her report, published in February, revealed that depictions of choking were "rife" across mainstream porn sites, influencing young people and normalising the act in sexual behaviour.
The review cited incidents such as a 14-year-old boy asking a teacher how to choke girls during sex, describing the potential "devastating consequences" of such imitation.
Baroness Bertin welcomed the amendment but said the move must go further.
"It’s only the beginning, as there’s still so much violent pornography that is completely legal online and illegal offline. The government has to use this as a first step to address that imbalance," she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
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