A new United Kingdom law restricting adult content is about to take effect, and it is drawing sharp pushback before enforcement even begins. The measure bans simulated incest and some depictions of oral sex, Wired reports — and adult content creators along with free speech advocates are warning it amounts to sex censorship on a scale the country hasn't seen before.

The objections cut along two lines. Creators see a direct threat to their livelihoods and to legal content produced by consenting adults, since the law targets depictions and simulations rather than actual conduct. Free speech advocates raise the broader precedent: once the state starts banning categories of legal fictional or simulated expression, the boundary becomes a matter of political taste rather than harm.

The law extends the UK's recent pattern of aggressive internet content regulation, which has already reshaped how platforms verify ages and gate adult material for British users. How platforms and creators respond once the ban takes effect — compliance, geo-blocking, or legal challenge — will determine whether the alarm being sounded now translates into a genuine contraction of what can be published in the UK.