Online Safety Bill — House of Commons, 2022-07-12
Topic: Civil Rights
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): With this it will be convenient to discuss the following: New clause 33—Meaning of "pornographic content"— "(1) In this Act ‘pornographic content’ means any of the following— (a) a video work in respect of which the video works authority has issued an R18 certificate; (b) content that was included in a video work to which paragraph (a) applies, if it is reasonable to assume from its nature that its inclusion was among the reasons why the certificate was an R18 certificate; (c) any other content if it is reasonable to assume from its nature that any classification certificate issued in respect of a video work including it would be an R18 certificate; (d) a video work in respect of which the video works authority has issued an 18 certificate, and that it is reasonable to assume from its nature was produced solely or principally for the purposes of sexual arousal; (e) content that was included in a video work to which paragraph (d) applies, if it is reasonable to assume from the nature of the content— (i) that it was produced solely or principally for the purposes of sexual arousal, and (ii) that its inclusion was among the reasons why the certificate was an 18 certificate; (f) any other content if it is reasonable to assume from its nature— (i) that it was produced solely or principally for the purposes of sexual arousal, and (ii) that any classification certificate issued in respect of a video work including it would be an 18 certificate; (g) a video work that the video works authority has determined not to be suitable for a classification certificate to be issued in respect of it, if— (i) it includes content that it is reasonable to assume from its nature was produced solely or principally for the purposes of sexual arousal, and (ii) it is reasonable to assume from the nature of that content that its inclusion was among the reasons why the video works authority made that determination; (h) content that was included in a video work that the video works authority has determined not to be suitable for a classification certificate to be issued in respect of it, if it is reasonable to assume from the nature of the content— (i) that it was produced solely or principally for the purposes of sexual arousal, and (ii) that its inclusion was among the reasons why the video works authority made that determination; (i) any other content if it is reasonable to assume from the nature of the content— (i) that it was produced solely or principally for the purposes of sexual arousal, and (ii) that the video works authority would determine that a video work including it was not suitable for a classification certificate to be issued in respect of it (2) In this section— ‘18 certificate’ means a classification certificate which— (a) contains, pursuant to section 7(2)(b) of the Video Recordings Act 1984, a statement that the video work is suitable for viewing only by persons who have attained the age of 18 and that no video recording containing that work is to be supplied to any person who has not attained that age, and (b) does not contain the statement mentioned in section 7(2)(c) of that Act that no video recording containing the video work is to be supplied other than in a licensed sex shop; ‘classification certificate’ has the same meaning as in the Video Recordings Act 1984 (see section 7 of that Act); ‘content’ means— (a) a series of visual images shown as a moving picture, with or without sound; (b) a still image or series of still images, with or without sound; or (c) sound; ‘R18 certificate’ means a classification certificate which contains the statement mentioned in section 7(2)(c) of the Video Recordings Act 1984 that no video recording containing the video work is to be supplied other than in a licensed sex shop; ‘the video works authority’ means the person or persons designated under section 4(1) of the Video Recordings Act 1984 as the authority responsible for making arrangements in respect of video works other than video games; ‘video work’ means a video work within the meaning of the Video Recordings Act 1984, other than a video game within the meaning of that Act." This new clause defines pornographic content for the purposes of the Act and would apply to user-to-user services and commercial pornographic content. Amendment 205, in clause 34, page 33, line 23, at end insert— "(3A) But an advertisement shall not be regarded as regulated user-generated content and precluded from being a ‘fraudulent advertisement’ by reason of the content constituting the advertisement being generated directly on, uploaded to, or shared on a user-to-user service before being modified to a paid-for advertisement." Amendment 206, page 33, line 30, after "has" insert "or may reasonably be expected to have" Amendment 207, in clause 36, page 35, line 12, at end insert— "(3A) An offence under section 993 of the Companies Act 2006 (fraudulent trading)." Amendment 208, page 35, line 18, after "(3)" insert ", 3(A)" Amendment 209, page 35, line 20, after "(3)" insert ", 3(A)" Amendment 210, page 35, line 23, after "(3)" insert ", 3(A)" Amendment 201, in clause 66, page 59, line 8, leave out from "Pornographic content" to end of line 10 and insert "has the same meaning as section [meaning of pornographic content]" This amendment defines pornographic content for the purposes of the Part 5. It is consequential on NC33. Amendment 56, page 59, line 8, after "content" insert ", taken as a whole," This amendment would require that content is considered as a whole before being defined as pornographic content. Amendment 33, in clause 68, page 60, line 33, at end insert— "(2A) A duty to verify that every individual featured in regulated provider pornographic content is an adult before the content is published on the service (2B) A duty to verify that every individual featured in regulated provider pornographic content that is already published on the service when this Act is passed is an adult and, where that is not the case, remove such content from the service (2C) A duty to verify that each individual appearing in regulated provider pornographic content has given their permission for the content in which they appear to be published or made available by the internet service (2D) A duty to remove regulated provider pornographic content featuring an individual if that individual withdraws their consent, at any time, to the pornographic content in which they feature remaining on the service." This amendment creates a duty to verify that each individual featured in pornographic content is an adult and has agreed to the content being uploaded before it is published. It would also impose a duty to remove content if the individual withdraws consent at any time. Amendment 34, page 60, line 37, leave out "subsection (2)" and insert "subsections (2) to (2D)" This amendment is consequential on Amendment 33. Amendment 31, in clause 182, page 147, line 16, leave out from "unless" to end of line 17 and insert— "(a) a draft of the instrument has been laid before each House of Parliament, "(b) the Secretary of State has made a motion in the House of Commons in relation to the draft instrument, and (c) the draft instrument has been approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament." This amendment would require a draft of a statutory instrument containing regulations under sections 53 or 54 to be debated on the floor of the House of Commons, rather than in a delegated legislation committee (as part of the affirmative procedure). Amendment 158, in clause 192, page 155, line 26, after "including" insert "but not limited to" This amendment clarifies that the list of types of content in clause 192 is not exhaustive.