UK lawmakers have voted to ban pornography depicting sexual relationships between step-relatives, with the House of Lords approving the measure by a single vote. The legislation targets content that would be illegal in real life, including so-called 'barely legal' material and videos showing adults pretending to be children. Peers backed the ban 144 to 143, following warnings that step-family relationships are the most common context for child sexual abuse.

Baroness Bertin, who led a government review into pornography regulation, cited statistics showing that around half of all child sexual abuse cases involve step-parents. She argued that such content normalizes the sexualization of children and fuels demand for real abuse material. However, Justice Minister Baroness Levitt cautioned that a broader ban could criminalize lawful adult relationships and complicate enforcement efforts for police and courts.

The legislation also includes measures to combat non-consensual sharing of intimate images. Peers approved a Government-backed ban on screenshotting temporary intimate images without consent, along with court-ordered deletion requirements for offenders. A new 'hashing' rule will create a digital fingerprint registry to prevent the spread of non-consensual intimate images across platforms.