Online Safety Act 2023

24 Providers of search services: duties of care U.K.

(1) Subsections (2) to (4) apply to determine which of the duties set out in this Chapter must be complied with by providers of regulated search services.

(2) All providers of regulated search 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 26,

(b) the duties about illegal content set out in section 27(2) to (8),

(c) the duty about content reporting set out in section 31,

(d) the duties about complaints procedures set out in section 32,

(e) the duties about freedom of expression and privacy set out in section 33, and

(f) the duties about record-keeping and review set out in section 34(2) to (6).

(3) Additional duties must be complied with by providers of particular kinds of regulated search services, as follows.

(4) All providers of regulated search 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 28, and

(b) the duties to protect children’s online safety set out in section 29(2) to (8).

(5) All providers of regulated search services that are Category 2A 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 27(9),

(b) the duty about children’s risk assessments set out in section 29(9), and

(c) the duty about record-keeping set out in section 34(9).

(6) For the meaning of “likely to be accessed by children”, see section 37.

(7) For the meaning of “Category 2A service”, see section 95 (register of categories of services).

Commencement Information

I1 S. 24 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 240(1)

I2 S. 24 in force at 10.1.2024 by S.I. 2023/1420, reg. 2(j)