Degrading, violent and misogynistic online pornography should be banned, a review of the industry is expected to say.

Measures proposed in the review, commissioned by the previous government and led by Conservative peer Baroness Gabby Bertin, are understood to include making it illegal to possess or publish pornography showing women being choked during sex.

After her appointment by Rishi Sunak’s government, Baroness Bertin made it clear she would not be approaching the topic from a prudish or disapproving position.

She will make 32 recommendations on what should be done about the “high-harm sector” of legal online pornography.

The review, due to be published later, is expected to argue that porn videos considered too harmful for any certificate in the offline world should be banned online.

Non-fatal strangulation is already an offence if someone does not consent but its depiction online is not illegal.

The review suggests pornography websites have normalised such behaviour in the real world, with violent and degrading material rife on mainstream platforms amid a “total absence of government scrutiny”.

Gemma Kelly, head of policy and public affairs at Cease which campaigns to end sexual exploitation, told Radio 4’s Today programme she wants to see a “clear roadmap for the government on how to regulate the pornography industry”.

“We need to see a legislative change,” she added – explaining this could be achieved via changes to the Online Safety Act.

Ministers will be urged to give the regulator Ofcom new powers to prosecute online platforms that refuse to remove harmful content.

The Department for Science Innovation and Technology has said it will respond to the recommendations once they have been laid before Parliament.

Measures to increase regulation of pornography, including to prevent access by children, are already part of the Online Safety Act, which became law in October 2023.

Services that publish their own pornographic content – including with generative AI tools – are already required to have age checks.

From July, all websites on which pornographic material can be found must also introduce “robust” age-checking techniques such as demanding photo ID or running credit card checks for UK users.

Ofcom estimates that approximately a third of adult internet users in the UK – 14 million people – watch online pornography, of which about three-quarters are men.