Screenshotting disappearing nudes could soon be illegal in the UK

In Feb. 2026, the UK government announced a ban on incest porn, as well as other bans to do with explicit images, as part of the UK's Crime and Policing Bill. While it's not currently law yet, it's already dredging up discussion online — especially considering last year's Online Safety Act, which established age verification in the country.

Mashable spoke with experts about what these bans entail and why they matter.

What is the incest porn ban in the UK?

On Feb. 23, Lord Hanson and Baroness Levitt announced a ban on incest porn and other explicit content in an open letter to Lord Davies at the House of Lords, the upper house of UK Parliament. 

Specifically, the amendment (numbered 297 in the marshalled list of amendments from Feb. 23) makes the possession and/or publishing of pornographic images of sex between relatives illegal — even if the people in the image are pretending to be related. This also applies to adopted relatives and, as of March 2, step-relatives. Possession can result in a fine and/or a prison sentence of up to two years, and publishing such an image can result in a prison sentence of up to five years.

This ban in particular has faced backlash on social media, with one Bluesky user posting at the time of the announcement, "im really upset and idk what to do [sic]." Another Bluesky user said, "I find it rich that any country with a royal family would try to ban incest art."

The proposed ban fits into a different category of reforms that the government is making around the content of mainstream pornography, like the strangulation porn ban the UK announced in Nov., according to Clare McGlynn, law professor at the University of Durham. McGlynn, an expert in the legal regulation of porn in the UK, has worked with various parliamentarians and made suggestions about legislation. 

"Incest pornography is…another part of that," she said, "Really trying to change the content that is online." 

What are the image-based sexual abuse bans?

In addition to the incest porn ban, the new amendments seek to ban what the government is calling intimate image abuses, specifically, banning screenshotting temporary intimate images without consent and semen-defaced images (known as "cum tributes" or "hatewank videos").

"The introduction of new image-based sexual abuse legislation is essential for protecting fundamental human rights," sex educator Jessie Gretener told Mashable. "The right to bodily autonomy extends beyond physical experiences, and therefore, legal frameworks need to reflect the harmful and degrading acts that compromise the safety and agency of people — online and offline."

The latest reporting from the UK's Office of National Statistic state that 900,000 sexual offenses were reported over the course of 12 months from 2024 to 2025, but Gretener said, "The reality is always significantly higher."

One crucial point, according to Gretener, is that the number of sexual offenses recorded by the police increased by 11 percent, which is partially attributed to prior image-based abuse legislation introduced under the Online Safety Act. 

Screenshotting temporary nudes

This amendment (281) would make it an offense for someone to create a copy of an intimate photograph or film that is shared with them temporarily without consent. An exception is if the image or film was uploaded in a more public place, or if the person photographed doesn't have a reasonable expectation of privacy, or if the person had consented to previous sharing. 

Should someone commit this offense, they'll face up to six months in prison, and/or a fine.

"Having your screenshots and your privacy leaked by someone that you feel you can trust is incredibly damaging," sex educator, sex worker, and host of the podcast Come Curious, Reed Amber, told Mashable.

This law "will protect more people from fearing that sharing an enjoyable, exciting, intimate moment with somebody won't be used against you in the future," she said.

Semen-defaced images

This amendment (278) would make it illegal to share a semen-defaced image if the person whose image it is doesn't consent to it, or the sharer doesn't reasonably think they do. This also includes graphics generated by a computer. In her interview with Mashable, McGlynn mentioned Grok and AI-generated images of semen on X. 

As with screenshotting without consent, this act faces a maximum prison sentence of six months and/or a fine. 

Amber said that she's personally had two images of her with semen on them sent to her non-consensually. 

"As a sex worker, this is the kind of content I see on a regular basis and in my in-person sessions, but to have somebody non-consensually do that without giving me a warning or without having a conversation around it first, it felt like a real personal invasion of privacy," she said. She fully stands by a ban on these non-consensual images. 

"It's part and parcel of that kind of ecosystem, of the ways in which technologies and… images are being used to abuse and harass women," McGlynn said. "The offense is about trying to say to survivors, 'We recognize this is happening to you. It's harmful, it's wrong, it's violating. It shouldn't be on the platforms, and it'll be a criminal offense.'"

A ban on nudification tools in the UK

In addition to the aforementioned amendments, another one (272) is that it'd be illegal to make or supply "nudification tools," or "purported intimate image generators," as the bill calls them. This offense carries a maximum penalty of up to three years in prison and/or a fine. 

This ban comes after a Jan. report Center for Countering Digital Hate found that Grok generated millions of sexualized images, including of children, in only 11 days. The UK is investigating Grok, as are Ireland, Brazil, India, and France. This month, three teens filed a lawsuit against xAI, which produced Grok, in a federal California court due to generating sexualized images of them.

The Crime and Policing Bill still has to go through several stages before becoming law. But given how the Online Safety Act has changed porn-viewing in the UK — such as Pornhub blocking itself, and non-pornographic content becoming age-gated — this will likely continue that trend.