UK Age Play Content Ban: FAQ for Platforms and Creators

What content counts?

The law says it applies to underage portrayals, but it's unclear how it will determine when an actor is "pretending to be" under 16. We cannot stress enough how important it is to talk to a UK lawyer about your specific content before November 6.

What kind of content is covered?

Under the law, content is covered if a "reasonable person" would think that:

1. it portrays at least two actual people engaged in sexual activity

2. at least one of those people is, or is pretending to be, under 16 years old

Unlike the ”incest” ban, this offense doesn't require penetration. It covers "sexual activity," which the law doesn't define. The government simply says the term is "well understood and used elsewhere [in] the criminal law."

Why under 16 and not under 18?

The government says the offense is meant to cover "pornographic depictions of illegal sexual conduct." In the UK, the age of consent is 16.

What does "pretending to be under 16" mean?

It's unclear. The law says that it applies if a r”easonable person” viewing the material would think that any of the performers were, or were pretending to be, under 16.

Bizarrely it also says that "a person is not to be taken as pretending to be under 16 if it is fanciful that they are actually under 16 in the way pretended."

What does "fanciful" mean!?

No one knows. The law doesn't define it, and the government hasn't said how it will be decided. A government memo gives two examples of content that isn't meant to be covered:

• "an adult dresses in a nappy and pretends to be a baby"

• "someone who is clearly an adult where the only marker of childhood is the fact that he or she is in school uniform"

Baroness Bertin, who spearheaded the law, told Parliament the exclusion covers "genuinely fanciful depictions involving unambiguously adult participants." Whatever that means.

Is "teen" or schoolgirl content covered?

Maybe. The government's equality assessment names "teen" and "schoolgirl" categories as popular and says they "predominantly depicts women portrayed as young girls." But the government has also said a school uniform alone, on "someone who is clearly an adult," isn't meant to be enough.

Do titles, tags, and descriptions matter?

The law's test takes into account "any sound or information associated with the image":

• for possession, associated material in the possessor's possession;

• for publication, material the publisher "publishes with the image."

Titles, tags, dialogue, descriptions, and categories probably all count as "associated" information, but that's not explicitly spelled out in the law.

Does AI-generated content count?

Yes, if it's realistic. The guidance says the offenses "only capture pornography that shows people which appear, to a reasonable person, to be real."