Online Safety Act 2023

234 “Harm” etc U.K.

(1) This section applies for the purposes of this Act, apart from Part 10 (communications offences).

(2) “Harm” means physical or psychological harm.

(3) References to harm presented by content, and any other references to harm in relation to content, include references to harm arising or that may arise from any one or combination of the following—

(a) the nature of the content;

(b) the fact of its dissemination;

(c) the manner of its dissemination.

(4) References to harm presented by content, and any other references to harm in relation to content, include references to cumulative harm arising or that may arise in the following circumstances—

(a) where content, or content of a particular kind, is repeatedly encountered by an individual (including, but not limited to, where content, or a kind of content, is sent to an individual by one user or by different users or encountered as a result of algorithms used by, or functionalities of, a service);

(b) where content of a particular kind is encountered by an individual in combination with content of a different kind (including, but not limited to, where a kind of content is sent to an individual by one user or by different users or encountered as a result of algorithms used by, or functionalities of, a service).

(5) References to harm presented by content, and any other references to harm in relation to content, include references to harm arising or that may arise in the following circumstances—

(a) where, as a result of the content, individuals act in a way that results in harm to themselves or that increases the likelihood of harm to themselves;

(b) where, as a result of the content, individuals do or say something to another individual that results in harm to that other individual or that increases the likelihood of such harm (including, but not limited to, where individuals act in such a way as a result of content that is related to that other individual’s characteristics or membership of a group).

(6) References to a risk of harm in relation to functionalities, and references to the risk of functionalities facilitating users encountering particular kinds of content (however expressed), include references to risks arising or that may arise due to multiple functionalities which, used in combination, increase the likelihood of harm arising (for example, as mentioned in subsection (4)).

(7) References to a risk of harm, or to potential harm, are to be read in the same way as references to harm.

(8) In contexts where harm (or a risk of harm or potential harm) relates to children, subsections (4) to (5) are to be read as if they referred to children instead of individuals.

Commencement Information

I1 S. 234 in force at Royal Assent, see s. 240(z5)