Australia considers banning strangulation pornography and algorithm opt-outs after 16-year-old girl's suspected choking death
Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek has signalled strong backing for outlawing pornography showing strangulation or suffocation in Australia, after a 16-year-old Sydney girl died this week in what is suspected to have been a sexual choking incident. A 2024 study found 57 per cent of Australians aged 18 to 35 have experienced strangulation during sex, prompting Plibersek to declare there is 'no safe way to strangle someone'. The government is also weighing whether to let users opt in or out of social media algorithms, after warnings that platforms take just 23 minutes to push violent, misogynistic content to a new male account.
NSW Liberal leader Kellie Sloane has written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese demanding action, adding cross-party pressure on the government to act.
Australia would be following the UK, which last year criminalised the possession or publication of pornography depicting strangulation or suffocation.
NSW Police are investigating the 16-year-old's death on Sydney's Northern Beaches and no arrests have been made.