Delegated Legislation – Online Safety Act 2023

I was a member of the Delegated Legislation Committee that looked at the Online Safety Act 2023 (Priority Offences) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 on Tuesday 5 November 2024.

The regulations amend the priority offences set out in schedule 7 to the Online Safety Act 2023. The criminal offences listed in schedule 7 to the act ‘priority offences’ impose duties on providers of certain internet services in relation to priority offences and content which amount to these offences. The act repeals the offence under section 23 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 (disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress) and replaces it with new offences under section 66b of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (sharing or threatening to share intimate photograph or film).

These regulations remove the repealed offence from schedule 7 to the act and add the new offences to that schedule. The Secretary of State considers it appropriate to add these offences to schedule 7 because of the prevalence of content on regulated user-to-user services or regulated search services that amounts to the new offences, the risk of harm presented to individuals in the United Kingdom presented by such content and the severity of that harm. The Legislation was passed.