What the Crime and Policing Act means for children’s safety online

Children today are growing up in a digital world where being online offers huge social, creative, and educational opportunities. But we also know that harmful content is often just a click away. One of the most serious risks children and young people face is exposure to pornography, including violent and degrading material, often without ever actively seeking it out. 

Building on our work to strengthen the Online Safety Act, the Crime and Policing Act marks real progress in closing the gaps where existing protections have fallen short.  

What is the Crime and Policing Act? 

For years, we've been at the forefront of campaigning for stronger protections to shield children from pornography. Most recently, as co-chairs of the Pornography Harms Coalition, one of our most significant achievements has been to support Baroness Bertin in her work to translate the findings of the Independent Pornography Review into meaningful legislative changes. 

That review set out several key recommendations to better protect children and address the harms caused by pornography. We’re proud that our sustained campaigning has helped secure government commitments to implement six of these recommendations through the Crime and Policing Act. 

The Crime and Policing Act is a new law which introduces new criminal offences to tackle some of the most harmful and exploitative forms of pornography. These measures aim to make sure that no one – especially not children – is exposed to extreme pornography which normalises violence and abuse by:  

• Criminalising pornography that mimics child sexual abuse, were adults role play “teen” scenarios.  

• Criminalising all incest pornography. 

• Criminalising step-incest content where the actor is portrayed to be under 18 years old.  

• Making it an offence to possess or publish pornographic material that depicts extreme violence, including acts such as strangulation. 

• Criminalising the creation and distribution of AI‑powered ‘nudification’ tools that generate sexual images of people without their consent. 

• Giving the government powers to ensure that those featured in pornography are over 18 years old and have ongoing consent to their content being published. 

These changes are significant because they address a longstanding gap in the law. Much of this content is illegal or tightly restricted in the offline world, yet, until now, has remained widely accessible online. 

We’ve been campaigning for years for online pornography to be regulated to the same standards as offline pornography, which is why we were glad to see the government commit to address this inconsistency within the next six months. This is essential to get right if children are to be properly protected. 

Why this legislation matters 

This new legislation marks a major step forward in protecting children from the harms of online pornography, a moment that reflects years of sustained campaigning and collaboration. 

We know that children are being exposed to pornography at an alarmingly young age – sometimes as young as five – often not through seeking it out, but through mainstream platforms and everyday online experiences. Without proper safeguards, this exposure can shape how children understand sex, consent and relationships from an early age (Children’s Commissioner, 2005) . 

For too long, violent and extreme pornography has been able to flourish online with limited oversight. Evidence from the Children’s Commissioner has shown that this content can normalise harmful gender stereotypes, reinforce misogynistic attitudes, and distort expectations around sex and relationships, placing girls and young women at greater risk of harm (Children’s Commissioner, 2005). Repeated exposure can influence what children and young people come to see as acceptable behaviour, with serious long-term consequences. 

As co-chairs of the Pornography Harms Coalition, we’ve been able to centre the lived experiences of children and young people and ensure their voices are heard where it matters most. By bringing together a wide range of research, frontline insight, and expertise from partner organisations, we have built a powerful and unified evidence base. 

Together, we have taken that evidence directly to policymakers through briefings, roundtables, open letters to the Prime Minister, and sustained engagement to make sure that the realities of children’s online lives are understood and acted upon. 

This legislation is a testament to that collective effort. It reflects our determination to turn that evidence into meaningful protections. While there is still more to do, this is a significant and hard-won milestone in making the online world safer for every child. 

What’s next? 

The Crime and Policing Act marks real progress in strengthening protections for children online. Alongside the Online Safety Act, it shows growing recognition that responsibility for children’s online safety cannot rest on families and young people alone. 

However, legislation is only effective if it is properly implemented and enforced. We will continue working with government, regulators, and partners to ensure these measures are robust, enforced consistently, and responsive to emerging risks. We also know that AI tools can be misused to create a range of harms. We will continue to work in this space to prevent AI tools from being misused in ways that cause harm and believe this should form part of a wider safety‑by‑design approach to technology development. 

We’re committed to helping bring about a safer online world – one where children can benefit from digital spaces without being exposed to harm.