Brits who possess or publish pornographic material similar to what we see Sydney Sweeney's character creating in Euphoria season three could face jail time under new legislation.
The hit HBO drama returned for its third season today (13 April), finally giving eager fans an update into the chaotic lives of Rue (Zendaya) and her high school friends as they navigate adult life.
In the five-year jump, Sweeney's character Cassie Howard is seen living as a restless soon-to-be California housewife engaged to Nate (Jacob Elordi) - who, FYI, is the abusive ex-boyfriend of her former best friend Maddy - and turns to OnlyFans to fund her extravagant wedding.
Teaser footage for the rest of the season, which continues to air on Sunday (19 April), showed Cassie appearing to take part in 'age play' on screen.
Advert
You can watch the controversial clip in the trailer below:
The divisive clip shows the 28-year-old with her legs in the air, dressed in pigtails with a dummy in her mouth, wearing a pink sheer top. She then performs the 'happy baby' yoga pose while dressed in clothing resembling a nappy.
The imagery triggered backlash online, with some viewers accusing the scene of 'playing into a paedophilic fetish'.
Others defended the storyline, arguing the show has always tackled uncomfortable realities surrounding sex, power and the internet.
“Why did they even agree to do this?” one person wrote.
While a second penned: “We shouldn’t be okay with this… the entire production should be held responsible for this abhorrent mess.”
"But it's fiction," someone else suggested. "It's a mockery of those who make and consume that kind of stuff. It's like you complaining that a movie features a corrupt politician or a serial killer."
UK government plans new pornography crackdown
At the same time, the UK government is introducing tougher laws to combat extreme pornography online.
New amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill will criminalise the possession or publication of pornography depicting incest or adults pretending to be children.
Such material could carry a maximum of five years in prison, while possession of pornography depicting adult-child role play could result in up to three years behind bars.
The new laws have divided opinion. Jess Asato, the Labour MP for Lowestoft, told Sky News that pornography 'which depicts performers as children is abhorrent'.
However, on Reddit, one online commentator wrote: "The key word is 'pretending'. They are adults, interacting with adults, for the entertainment of other adults.
"No porn containing willing adult participants, all of whom have been adequately compensated for their work should be illegal.
"There is a world of difference between 'this is gross and we shouldn’t encourage it' and 'potential 5 year prison sentence'."
Another aspect of the new laws that has caused controversy is criminalising 'step-incest' porn, despite relationships between adult step-relatives not being illegal in real life.
But MPs told Sky News the government would have 'lost the plot' if it lobbied its MPs to 'keep incest porn'.
Minister for Victims and Tackling Violence Against Girls Alex Davies-Jones told LADbible: "The criminal law is designed to prevent and punish action which endangers people and society - not to criminalise those with innocent bedroom kinks. It must also keep up with the pace of technology today.
"Innocent children have paid the price for abusive, misogynistic, and power-driven fantasies for long enough. Porn must not risk influencing this, so possessing or sharing porn in which an adult is credibly pretending to be a child will become an imprisonable offence.
"This is a bold and progressive change to the law which cracks down on pornography which mimics child sexual abuse. Such content risks contributing to the normalisation of a horrific crime which ruins lives and has no place in our society."
LADbible has contacted Sweeney and HBO for comment.
Anish Vij