{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/telecommunications-act-1984/section-43",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/telecommunications-act-1984/section-43.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/1984/12",
  "legislation_title": "Telecommunications Act 1984",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/telecommunications-act-1984",
  "path": "section/43",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "43",
  "heading": "Improper use of public telecommunication system.",
  "text": "(1) A person who—\n(a) sends, by means of a public telecommunication system, a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character; or\n(b) sends by those means, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another, a message that he knows to be false or persistently makes use for that purpose of a public telecommunication system,\nshall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or both.\n(2) Subsection (1) above does not apply to anything done in the course of providing a programme service (within the meaning of the Broadcasting Act 1990).",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "S. 43 repealed (25.7.2003 for specified purposes, 29.12.2003 otherwise) by Communications Act 2003 (c. 21), ss. 406, 408, 411, Sch. 19(1) (with Sch. 18, Sch. 19(1) Note 1); S.I. 2003/1900, arts. 1(2), 2(1), 3(1), Sch. 1 (with art. 3(2) (as amended (8.12.2003) by S.I. 2003/3142, art. 1(3))); S.I. 2003/3142, art. 3, Sch. 1 (with art. 11)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Words in s. 43(1) substituted (3.2.1995) by 1994 c. 33, s. 92(1)(2); S.I. 1995/127, art. 2(1), Sch. 1"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F3",
      "text": "Words substituted by Broadcasting Act 1990 (c. 42, SIF 96), s. 203(1), Sch. 20 para. 38(4)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/12/section/43",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T10:04:22.261665+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}