Consideration of Bill, as amended in the Public Bill Committee
[Relevant Documents: Report of the Joint Committee on the Draft Online Safety Bill, Session 2021-22: Draft Online Safety Bill, HC 609, and the Government Response, CP 640; Letter from the Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy to the Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights relating to the Online Safety Bill, dated 16 June 2022; Letter from the Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport relating to the Online Safety Bill, dated 19 May 2022;First Report of the Digital, Cultural, Media and Sport Committee, Amending the Online Safety Bill, HC 271]
New Clause 19
Duties to protect news publisher content
(1) This section sets out the duties to protect news publisher content which apply in relation to Category 1 services.
(2) Subject to subsections (4), (5) and (8), a duty, in relation to a service, to take the steps set out in subsection (3) before—
(a) taking action in relation to content present on the service that is news publisher content, or
(b) taking action against a user who is a recognised news publisher.
(3) The steps referred to in subsection (2) are—
(a) to give the recognised news publisher in question a notification which—
(i) specifies the action that the provider is considering taking,
(ii) gives reasons for that proposed action by reference to each relevant provision of the terms of service,
(iii) where the proposed action relates to news publisher content that is also journalistic content, explains how the provider took the importance of the free expression of journalistic content into account when deciding on the proposed action, and
(iv) specifies a reasonable period within which the recognised news publisher may make representations,
(b) to consider any representations that are made, and
(c) to notify the recognised news publisher of the decision and the reasons for it (addressing any representations made).
(4) If a provider of a service reasonably considers that the provider would incur criminal or civil liability in relation to news publisher content present on the service if it were not taken down swiftly, the provider may take down that content without having taken the steps set out in subsection (3).
(5) A provider of a service may also take down news publisher content present on the service without having taken the steps set out in subsection (3) if that content amounts to a relevant offence (see section 52 and also subsection (10) of this section).