United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has legal requirements around adult content that go further than FetLife's guidelines. To comply with these requirements, we restrict certain content from being viewed by people in the United Kingdom rather than removing it for everyone.
What is restricted in the United Kingdom?
The following content is restricted from being viewed in the United Kingdom.
Strangulation and suffocation
Pornographic pictures and videos that explicitly and realistically show one person strangling another (applying pressure to their neck) or suffocating them (blocking their breathing by covering their mouth and nose or compressing their chest).
Examples include:
- Hands, arms, feet, or knees applying pressure to someone's neck
- Rope, belts, or collars applying pressure to someone's neck
- Hands or object covering someone's mouth and nose to restrict breathing
- Bags, hoods, or masks that prevent someone from breathing
- Someone sitting or lying on another person's chest to restrict breathing
Examples do NOT include:
- Breath play done to yourself
- Hands resting on someone's neck without applying pressure
- Collars, chokers, or necklaces worn without applying pressure to the neck
- Rope wrapped around someone's neck without applying pressure
- Ball gags or other gags that don't restrict breathing
- Hoods or masks that don't restrict breathing
- Facesitting that doesn't restrict breathing
- Someone sitting or lying on another person's chest without restricting their breathing
Incest roleplay
Pornographic pictures and videos that explicitly and realistically show sexual penetration between people who appear to be related or pretending to be related.
Sexual penetration is defined as penetrating someone's vagina or anus with any body part (such as a penis, finger, or tongue) or object (such as a dildo), or penetrating someone's mouth with a penis.
The relationship may be established through the picture or video itself, or through its title, caption, tags, description, or audio.
Examples include:
- Parents and children
- Grandparents and grandchildren
- Siblings or half-siblings
- Aunts or uncles and nieces or nephews
- Adoptive family members in any of the relationships above
- Step-family or foster family members in certain relationships where someone is presented as under 18
Examples do NOT include:
- Honorifics like "Daddy" or "Mommy" when they don't imply a family relationship
- Non-penetrative family roleplay
- Cousins and in-laws
- Adult step-family roleplay where everyone is presented as an adult
- People clearly could not be parent and child (e.g. no age difference)
- Non-realistic AI, drawings, hentai, and anime
Underage roleplay (under 16)
Pornographic pictures and videos that explicitly and realistically show sexual activity between two or more people, where at least one person appears to be under 16 or is pretending to be under 16.
A person's age may be established through the picture or video itself, or through its title, caption, tags, description, or audio.
Examples include:
- Sexual activity involving an adult who could reasonably be mistaken for someone under 16
- Sexual activity between adults where one realistically pretends to be under 16
- Sexual activity where someone is identified as under 16 through the title, caption, description, tags, or audio, and the portrayal is believable
Examples do NOT include:
- A single person engaging in age play or other solo content
- Age play or AB/DL activities between adults without sexual activity
- Adults pretending to be under 16 when their portrayal is so unrealistic that no reasonable person would believe they could actually be that age
- Adults wearing diapers, baby clothing, or using pacifiers when those are the only things suggesting they're younger than 16
- An adult wearing diapers and pretending to be a baby, without sexual activity with another person
- Caregiver and little roleplay without sexual activity
- Adults wearing school uniforms when the uniform alone doesn't reasonably suggest they're younger than 16
- Adults presented as 16 or 17
- Non-realistic drawings, cartoons, and anime
Definitions
The following definitions apply to the legal requirements described above: (as defined by the UK's legal requirements and not FetLife)
- Pornographic: Pictures and videos that a reasonable person would believe were created mainly for sexual arousal.
- Sexual Activity: Includes sexual intercourse, oral sex, sexual touching, masturbation involving another person, and sexual BDSM activities.
- Sexual Penetration: Penetrating someone's vagina or anus with any body part (such as a penis, finger, or tongue) or object (such as a dildo), or penetrating someone's mouth with a penis.
Who can report?
Anyone located in the UK who comes across an image they believe might fall under this guideline.
How do I report content that should be restricted?
You can report a potential violation of this guideline by:
- Visiting the page with the potentially offensive material
- Selecting "...", “more”, or “options”,
- Select “Report”
- Selecting "Content Not Permitted" or “Other Reason”
- Selecting "Next"
- Providing any additional information that can help the person reviewing the report
- Selecting "Report"
For more information, you can refer to Submitting a Report.
What happens if content falls under this guideline?
If the image is posted from someone outside of the UK, we will restrict the content from being viewed in the United Kingdom.
If the image is posted from someone inside the UK, we will remove the content from FetLife.
We'll then notify the person who posted it and give them the option to appeal.
If the content also breaks one of FetLife's main guidelines, we'll handle it under that guideline as well.
What should I know if I live in the United Kingdom?
Some of the content restricted under this guideline may also be illegal for you to publish or possess.
For example, starting 6 November 2026, new laws in England and Wales make it a criminal offence to publish or possess certain realistic pornographic pictures and videos involving strangulation, suffocation, incest roleplay, or sexual activity involving someone presented as under 16.
A few things you should know:
- Publishing: Sharing covered content with even one person may count as publishing, whether or not the content is publicly visible.
- Possession: Keeping covered content on your device, in an online account, or in cloud storage may count as possession.
- Existing content: The government says covered content already in your possession must be deleted or otherwise disposed of before 6 November 2026. Content you continue to publish must also be removed before that date.
These laws include certain exceptions and legal defences, but appearing in the content yourself does not automatically make it legal to publish.
More information
For more information about the legal requirements in the United Kingdom:
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