Online Safety Act 2023

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This is important so pay attention:


https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50

An Act to make provision for and in connection with the regulation by OFCOM of certain internet services; for and in connection with communications offences; and for connected purposes.

[26th October 2023]

CHAPTER 2
Providers of user-to-user services: duties of care
User-to-user services: which duties apply, and scope of duties
7Providers of user-to-user services: duties of care
(1)Subsections (2) to (6) apply to determine which of the duties set out in this Chapter (and, in the case of combined services, Chapter 3) must be complied with by providers of regulated user-to-user services.
(2)All providers of regulated user-to-user services must comply with the following duties in relation to each such service which they provide—
(a)the duties about illegal content risk assessments set out in section 9,
(b)the duties about illegal content set out in section 10(2) to (8),
(c)the duty about content reporting set out in section 20,
(d)the duties about complaints procedures set out in section 21,
(e)the duties about freedom of expression and privacy set out in section 22(2) and (3), and
(f)the duties about record-keeping and review set out in section 23(2) to (6).
(3)Additional duties must be complied with by providers of particular kinds of regulated user-to-user services, as follows.
(4)All providers of regulated user-to-user services that are likely to be accessed by children must comply with the following duties in relation to each such service which they provide—
(a)the duties about children’s risk assessments set out in section 11, and
(b)the duties to protect children’s online safety set out in section 12(2) to (13).
(5)All providers of Category 1 services must comply with the following duties in relation to each such service which they provide—
(a)the duty about illegal content risk assessments set out in section 10(9),
(b)the duty about children’s risk assessments set out in section 12(14),
(c)the duties about assessments related to adult user empowerment set out in section 14,
(d)the duties to empower adult users set out in section 15,
(e)the duties to protect content of democratic importance set out in section 17,
(f)the duties to protect news publisher content set out in section 18,
(g)the duties to protect journalistic content set out in section 19,
(h)the duties about freedom of expression and privacy set out in section 22(4), (6) and (7), and
(i)the duties about record-keeping set out in section 23(9) and (10).
(6)All providers of combined services must comply with the following duties in relation to the search engine of each such service which they provide—
(a)if the service is not a Category 2A service and is not likely to be accessed by children, the duties set out in Chapter 3 referred to in section 24(2);
(b)if the service is not a Category 2A service and is likely to be accessed by children, the duties set out in Chapter 3 referred to in section 24(2) and (4);
(c)if the service is a Category 2A service not likely to be accessed by children, the duties set out in Chapter 3 referred to in section 24(2) and (5);
(d)if the service is a Category 2A service likely to be accessed by children, the duties set out in Chapter 3 referred to in section 24(2), (4) and (5).
(7)For the meaning of “likely to be accessed by children”, see section 37.
(8)For the meaning of “Category 1 service”, see section 95 (register of categories of services).

Illegal content duties for user-to-user services
9Illegal content risk assessment duties
(1)This section sets out the duties about risk assessments which apply in relation to all regulated user-to-user services.
(2)A duty to carry out a suitable and sufficient illegal content risk assessment at a time set out in, or as provided by, Schedule 3.
(3)A duty to take appropriate steps to keep an illegal content risk assessment up to date, including when OFCOM make any significant change to a risk profile that relates to services of the kind in question.
(4)Before making any significant change to any aspect of a service’s design or operation, a duty to carry out a further suitable and sufficient illegal content risk assessment relating to the impacts of that proposed change.
(5)An “illegal content risk assessment” of a service of a particular kind means an assessment of the following matters, taking into account the risk profile that relates to services of that kind—
(a)the user base;
(b)the level of risk of individuals who are users of the service encountering the following by means of the service—
(i)each kind of priority illegal content (with each kind separately assessed), and
(ii)other illegal content,taking into account (in particular) algorithms used by the service, and how easily, quickly and widely content may be disseminated by means of the service;
(c)the level of risk of the service being used for the commission or facilitation of a priority offence;
(d)the level of risk of harm to individuals presented by illegal content of different kinds or by the use of the service for the commission or facilitation of a priority offence;
(e)the level of risk of functionalities of the service facilitating the presence or dissemination of illegal content or the use of the service for the commission or facilitation of a priority offence, identifying and assessing those functionalities that present higher levels of risk;
(f)the different ways in which the service is used, and the impact of such use on the level of risk of harm that might be suffered by individuals;
(g)the nature, and severity, of the harm that might be suffered by individuals from the matters identified in accordance with paragraphs (b) to (f);
(h)how the design and operation of the service (including the business model, governance, use of proactive technology, measures to promote users’ media literacy and safe use of the service, and other systems and processes) may reduce or increase the risks identified.
(6)In this section references to risk profiles are to the risk profiles for the time being published under section 98 which relate to the risk of harm to individuals presented by illegal content.
(7)See also—
(a)section 23(2) and (10) (records of risk assessments), and
(b)Schedule 3 (timing of providers’ assessments).

16User empowerment duties: interpretation
(1)In determining what is proportionate for the purposes of section 15(2), the following factors, in particular, are relevant—
(a)all the findings of the most recent assessment under section 14, and
(b)the size and capacity of the provider of the service.
(2)Section 15(2) applies to content that—
(a)is regulated user-generated content in relation to the service in question, and
(b)is within subsection (3), (4) or (5).
(3)Content is within this subsection if it encourages, promotes or provides instructions for—
(a)suicide or an act of deliberate self-injury, or
(b)an eating disorder or behaviours associated with an eating disorder.
(4)Content is within this subsection if it is abusive and the abuse targets any of the following characteristics—
(a)race,
(b)religion,
(c)sex,
(d)sexual orientation,
(e)disability, or
(f)gender reassignment.
(5)Content is within this subsection if it incites hatred against people—
(a)of a particular race, religion, sex or sexual orientation,
(b)who have a disability, or
(c)who have the characteristic of gender reassignment.
(6)The duty set out in section 15(5) applies in relation to all registered adult users, not just those who begin to use a service after that duty begins to apply.
(7)In section 15 and this section—
“disability” means any physical or mental impairment;
“injury” includes poisoning;
“non-verified user” means a user who—
(a)
is an individual, whether in the United Kingdom or outside it, and

(b)
has not verified their identity to the provider of a service;

“race” includes colour, nationality, and ethnic or national origins.
(8)In section 15 and this section—
(a)references to features include references to functionalities and settings, and
(b)references to religion include references to a lack of religion.
(9)For the purposes of section 15 and this section, a person has the characteristic of gender reassignment if the person is proposing to undergo, is undergoing or has undergone a process (or part of a process) for the purpose of reassigning the person’s sex by changing physiological or other attributes of sex, and the reference to gender reassignment in subsection (4) is to be construed accordingly.
(10)See also, in relation to duties set out in section 15, section 22 (duties about freedom of expression and privacy).

PART 10
Communications offences
False and threatening communications offences
179False communications offence
(1)A person commits an offence if—
(a)the person sends a message (see section 182),
(b)the message conveys information that the person knows to be false,
(c)at the time of sending it, the person intended the message, or the information in it, to cause non-trivial psychological or physical harm to a likely audience, and
(d)the person has no reasonable excuse for sending the message.
(2)For the purposes of this offence an individual is a “likely audience” of a message if, at the time the message is sent, it is reasonably foreseeable that the individual—
(a)would encounter the message, or
(b)in the online context, would encounter a subsequent message forwarding or sharing the content of the message.
(3)In a case where several or many individuals are a likely audience, it is not necessary for the purposes of subsection (1)(c) that the person intended to cause harm to any one of them in particular (or to all of them).
(4)See section 180 for exemptions from the offence under this section.
(5)A person who commits an offence under this section is liable—
(a)on summary conviction in England and Wales, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding the maximum term for summary offences or a fine (or both);
(b)on summary conviction in Northern Ireland, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (or both).
(6)In subsection (5)(a) “the maximum term for summary offences” means—
(a)if the offence is committed before the time when section 281(5) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 comes into force, 6 months;
(b)if the offence is committed after that time, 51 weeks.
(7)Proceedings for an offence under this section may be brought within the period of 6 months beginning with the date on which evidence sufficient in the opinion of the prosecutor to justify the proceedings comes to the prosecutor’s knowledge.
(8)But such proceedings may not be brought by virtue of subsection (7) more than 3 years after the commission of the offence.
(9)A certificate signed by the prosecutor as to the date on which the evidence in question came to the prosecutor’s knowledge is conclusive evidence of the date on which it did so; and a certificate to that effect and purporting to be so signed is to be treated as being so signed unless the contrary is proved.