# Online Safety Act 2023, Section 57: “Search content”, “search results” etc

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

(1) This section applies for the purposes of this Part.
(2) “Search content” means content that may be encountered in or via search results of a search service, except—
(a) paid-for advertisements (see section 236),
(b) content on the website of a recognised news publisher (see section 56), and
(c) content that—
(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).
(3) “Search results”, in relation to a search service, means content presented to a user of the service by operation of the search engine in response to a search request made by the user.
(4) “Search” means search by any means, including by input of text or images or by speech, and references to a search request are to be construed accordingly.
(5) In subsection (2), the reference to encountering content “via search results”—
(a) is to encountering content as a result of interacting with search results (for example, by clicking on them);
(b) does not include a reference to encountering content as a result of subsequent interactions with an internet service other than the search service.
(6) In this section references to a search service include references to a user-to-user service that includes a search engine.

---
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/section/57 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/online-safety-act-2023/section-57
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.

