Can your provider slow down or block websites?

The UK rules are in Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 on open internet access. The EU law took effect in 2016, and after Brexit it was kept in UK law with minor changes. From 31 December 2020 the references in it were changed to name Ofcom as the UK regulator. So net neutrality did not disappear when the UK left the EU: the same core rules still apply to UK broadband.

Before the EU law, the UK took a self-regulatory approach to the open internet from 2011/12, according to the broadband news site ISPreview, rather than having a legal rule.

• Ofcom monitors the rules, enforces them, publishes annual reports on its monitoring and issues guidance on how providers should follow them. At its request a provider must hand over information about how it manages network capacity and traffic, and justify any traffic management it uses.
• Government and Parliament decide whether the rules themselves change. Ofcom says any changes to the legislation are a matter for them.

If you think your own connection is being managed unfairly, start with your provider: the steps are at the end of this guide.

Traffic management is the general term for the ways a provider controls how data moves across its network, for example giving time-sensitive traffic a smoother path at busy times. It is allowed as everyday network housekeeping only if it is reasonable, and the law sets out conditions for that. It must be:

Going further, by blocking, slowing, altering or degrading specific content, apps or services, is only allowed when necessary, and only for as long as necessary, to:

1. Comply with the law, including court orders and orders from public authorities.
2. Protect the integrity and security of the network, the services running on it and your devices. ISPreview gives anti-virus and spam filtering as examples of security measures.
3. Prevent congestion that is about to happen, or ease congestion that is exceptional or temporary. Even then, equivalent categories of traffic must be treated equally.

The wording of the congestion exception is narrow: it refers to congestion that is about to happen, or that is exceptional or temporary, and equivalent traffic must still be treated alike. Separately, broadband speeds often dip at busy times because capacity is shared; our guide to why broadband slows down in the evening explains that everyday pattern and how to tell it apart from a fault.

If your package is sold as unlimited, check whether the provider adds a fair use policy, a set of terms about reasonable use. Sky's broadband tariff guide, for example, says all contracts have unlimited data subject to a fair usage policy unless otherwise stated (the guide is dated April 2025; it was the version we found on Sky's site on 8 October 2026). Fair use terms are set out in the contract and should be read alongside the traffic management information.

An example from abroad shows why the detail matters. On 6 September 2026 ISPreview reported customer accounts of some Starlink satellite users on 'unlimited' residential plans having speeds restricted to about 10Mbps after very heavy use, often around 5TB a month. The reports came mostly from the USA and Mexico, ISPreview had not verified any UK cases, and Starlink gave no official threshold, citing terms that limit residential plans to personal, family or household use. By 11 September, ISPreview reported, Starlink had lifted the restriction for some customers who complained and given them a one-month credit. If you run large uploads, back-ups or a home server, check how a provider defines reasonable use. Our guide to how much data a home uses will help you gauge where you sit.

Section 97A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 lets the High Court (the Court of Session in Scotland) grant an injunction against a service provider that knows its service is being used by someone else to infringe copyright. ISPreview says UK website-blocking orders usually flow from this power, and that over about 16 years hundreds of sites have been blocked this way, or thousands if you count proxies and mirror sites. The copyright targets are typically file-sharing and pirate streaming sites and Sci-Hub.

Sites selling counterfeit goods are blocked under a different power. There is no trade mark equivalent of section 97A, so these blocks are made under the High Court's general power to grant injunctions in section 37(1) of the Senior Courts Act 1981. The Supreme Court's judgment in Cartier International AG v British Telecommunications plc [2018] UKSC 28 records that the Court of Appeal had upheld this power, in the first case where a blocking injunction protected a trade mark.

Rights holders usually name the biggest providers, such as BT, EE, Plusnet, Virgin Media, Sky Broadband and TalkTalk. In May 2026 ISPreview reported a High Court order in a case brought by film studios against BT and others that lets them seek blocks on piracy services meeting defined criteria without going back to court for every new domain. The order lasts six months, can be extended and requires reporting back to the court.

Because a court requires them, these blocks fall within the first exception above and do not breach net neutrality.

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) keeps a URL List of webpages where it has confirmed child sexual abuse images or videos. Its members can use the list under licence to block access. The IWF says the list is updated twice a day, only includes content assessed as criminal under UK law, and drops addresses once the content has gone, to avoid over-blocking.

In its October 2023 statement Ofcom said it is unlikely to have concerns where providers take reasonable approaches with a clear public benefit. As quoted by ISPreview, these include preventing access to scam websites and other harmful content, offering parental controls, prioritising and zero-rating access to emergency services, and managing traffic on transport and in public spaces where capacity is limited.

Network-level filters that block categories of sites are a service the account holder controls, not a provider deciding what you may see. Two examples (checked October 2026):

• BT Parental Controls are free for BT Broadband customers. They have filter levels that apply to every device on the home connection, can be scheduled by day and time, and can be turned off. BT says it asks all customers to decide whether they want them.
• TalkTalk says HomeSafe comes as standard with its fibre plans. It describes HomeSafe as a filter to keep out unwanted content and says it lets you set internet time-outs for children. Its page does not say how to switch the filter off, so check your account settings or ask TalkTalk if a site is being blocked.

If a harmless site will not load on your home broadband but works on mobile data, check your provider's filter settings first. Our guide to broadband parental controls explains how these filters work and how to adjust them.

In its 2022 consultation, Ofcom set out some things the current rules do not allow and that would need new legislation from Government. These are consultation-stage positions, but they show where the line sits:

• a package that gives specific content different quality, such as only one particular gaming app getting guaranteed low latency;
• more flexibility to traffic-manage specific content to deal with congestion;
• letting customers keep using zero-rated content after their general data allowance runs out.

BT and Mobile UK welcomed the 2023 changes but called on Government to go further. When we checked legislation.gov.uk in October 2026, it showed no outstanding changes to Article 3, the part of the regulation that sets out these rights and exceptions.

Some providers make a point of saying they do not traffic-manage (checked October 2026). Read each statement alongside the provider's own terms:

• Zen says it does not manage internet traffic.
• POP Telecom describes its consumer broadband as completely unrestricted with no traffic management, and says it does not throttle or cap usage. However, its fair usage policy also says fibre broadband can be supplied with a 100GB or 500GB limit or with unlimited usage, and that it states the allowance in its offers, so confirm the deal you choose says unlimited (checked 8 October 2026).
• toob says it does not cap usage or use traffic management.

Not every provider publishes a clear statement like this, so if you cannot find one, ask before you sign. Our guide to UK broadband providers links to a page for each provider we cover, where you can compare deals and check the details.

If your provider's policy does not suit how you use the internet, switching when you are free to do so is the most direct fix. You can compare live packages by postcode on our broadband deals page, or on broadband-only deals if you do not need a landline or TV. The comparison shows deals from our partner; it does not switch you itself, so before you order, open the new provider's traffic management and fair use terms and check them against the checklist above.