Online Safety Act 2023

57 “Search content”, “search results” etc

(1) This section applies for the purposes of this Part.

(2) “Search content” means content that may be encountered in or via search results of a search service, except—

(a) paid-for advertisements (see section 236),

(b) content on the website of a recognised news publisher (see section 56), and

(c) content that—

(i) reproduces in full an article or written item that was originally published by a recognised news publisher (and is not a screenshot or photograph of that article or item or of part of it),

(ii) is video or audio content that was originally published or broadcast by a recognised news publisher, and is not a clipped or edited form of such content (unless it is the recognised news publisher who has clipped or edited it), or

(iii) is a link to an article or item within sub-paragraph (i) or to content within sub-paragraph (ii).

(3) “Search results”, in relation to a search service, means content presented to a user of the service by operation of the search engine in response to a search request made by the user.

(4) “Search” means search by any means, including by input of text or images or by speech, and references to a search request are to be construed accordingly.

(5) In subsection (2), the reference to encountering content “via search results”—

(a) is to encountering content as a result of interacting with search results (for example, by clicking on them);

(b) does not include a reference to encountering content as a result of subsequent interactions with an internet service other than the search service.

(6) In this section references to a search service include references to a user-to-user service that includes a search engine.