PART 3Providers of regulated user-to-user services and regulated search services: duties of care
CHAPTER 7Interpretation of Part 3
I155“Regulated user-generated content”, “user-generated content”, “news publisher content”
1
This section applies for the purposes of this Part.
2
“Regulated user-generated content”, in relation to a regulated user-to-user service, means user-generated content, except—
a
emails,
b
SMS messages,
c
MMS messages,
d
one-to-one live aural communications (see subsection (5)),
e
comments and reviews on provider content (see subsection (6)),
f
identifying content that accompanies content within any of paragraphs (a) to (e), and
g
news publisher content (see subsection (8)).
3
“User-generated content”, in relation to a user-to-user service, means content—
a
that is—
i
generated directly on the service by a user of the service, or
ii
uploaded to or shared on the service by a user of the service, and
b
that may be encountered by another user, or other users, of the service by means of the service.
4
For the purposes of subsection (3)—
a
the reference to content generated, uploaded or shared by a user includes content generated, uploaded or shared by means of software or an automated tool applied by the user;
b
a bot or other automated tool is to be regarded as a user of a service if—
i
the functions of the bot or tool include interacting with user-generated content, and
ii
the bot or tool is not controlled by or on behalf of the provider of the service.
5
“One-to-one live aural communications”, in relation to a user-to-user service, means content—
a
consisting of speech or other sounds conveyed in real time between two users of the service by means of the service,
b
that is not a recording, and
c
that is not accompanied by user-generated content of any other kind, except identifying content.
6
“Comments and reviews on provider content”, in relation to a user-to-user service, means content present on the service consisting of comments or reviews relating to provider content (together with any further comments on such comments or reviews).
7
In subsection (6) “provider content” means content published on a service by the provider of the service or by a person acting on behalf of the provider, including where the publication of the content is effected or controlled by means of—
a
software or an automated tool or algorithm applied by the provider or by a person acting on behalf of the provider, or
b
an automated tool or algorithm made available on the service by the provider or by a person acting on behalf of the provider.
For the purposes of subsection (6), content that is user-generated content in relation to a service is not to be regarded as provider content in relation to that service.
8
9
Content is within this subsection if it was generated directly on the service by a user of the service that is a recognised news publisher.
10
Content is within this subsection if—
a
the content was uploaded to or shared on the service by a user of the service, and
b
the content either—
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).
11
For the meaning of “recognised news publisher”, see section 56.
12
In this section—
“MMS message” means a Multimedia Messaging Service message (that may include images, sounds and short videos) that may be sent between telephone numbers allocated in accordance with a national or international numbering plan;
“SMS message” means a Short Message Service text message composed principally of letters or numbers that may be sent between telephone numbers allocated in accordance with a national or international numbering plan.