United Kingdom: Crime and Policing Act 2026 received royal assent

On 29 April 2026, the Crime and Policing Act received Royal Assent. The Act applies to providers of online platforms hosting user-generated content, suppliers of Artificial Intelligence (AI) models, website moderators, and administrators. The Act criminalises the making, adapting, supplying, or offering to supply of “nudification tools”, the taking of screenshots of intimate images without consent, and the possession or supply of AI models optimised to produce child sexual abuse material. The Act extends existing legislation on so-called paedophile manuals to cover material instructing how to use AI to generate child sexual abuse material and makes website moderators and administrators of services hosting child sexual abuse material liable. The Act requires online platforms to remove non-consensual intimate images within 48 hours of being notified, empowers courts to make image deletion orders, and grants Border Force officers the power to search digital devices arriving in the United Kingdom for child sexual abuse material. The Act further confers on the Secretary of State a power to amend the Online Safety Act 2023 by regulations to mitigate the risk of harm from AI tools, including AI chatbots. The majority of the Act's provisions enter into force on dates to be appointed by commencement regulations, with the corporate criminal liability provisions on senior-manager attribution fixed to enter into force on 29 June 2026.