C20231788 - Search services prevalence research - identifiable terrorism content

Award outcome

Description

Ofcom has a requirement for research that will generate a robust evidence base regarding the existence, prevalence and ease of access of identifiable terrorism content, accessible via online search services. By 'terrorism content' the Online Safety Bill refers to any content that amounts to an offence specified in Schedule 5 of the Online Safety Bill - here referring to offences under the Terrorism Act 2000, Terrorism Act 2006 and the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (use of noxious substances or things). A full list can be found from page 212 of the Online Safety Bill (as of 08 August 2023). We recognise that determining whether content amounts to one of these offences is challenging, and in some cases simply not possible when reviewing online content in isolation. For the purposes of this work, therefore, we are focusing on content we have called 'identifiable terrorism content' which refers to content which an external observer can reasonably suspect to be terrorism content (amounting to a terrorism offence) through an initial assessment of the content itself and the context in which it is displayed online. Please note that 'identifiable terrorism content' is not a legal term or definition, and we would welcome bidders' recommendations when setting the parameters or criteria for labelling content in this way for the purposes of this research project. We acknowledge this topic is extremely broad and welcome bidder's recommendations about how to narrow the project focus to deliver meaningful insights against the key research questions (below) within the time, budget and methodological constraints. By understanding how accessible this content is to UK users via search services, Ofcom should be able to more accurately reflect the scale and type of risks to the UK public relevant to search services. This evidence will inform updates to the Register of Risk, codes of practice and industry guidance, and support Ofcom and search services to develop suitable mitigations. As a minimum requirement, the project must be able to provide answers to the following research questions: 1. Is identifiable terrorism content accessible to UK users by directly interacting with search results (on the clear web)? For the purposes of this research the content of interest is only the initial search results provided by a search service in response to a query, and the corresponding webpage linked to each search result - anything more than 'one click' away from a search results page is out of scope. 2. What is the prevalence of identifiable terrorism content within search results delivered by search services? (where 'prevalence' refers to the proportion of content surfaced against a search term that is meets the criteria, but we welcome suggestions on additional definitions) 3. What mitigations or safeguarding measures do search services put in place to interrupt or divert users who are actively using search as a tool to access identifiable terrorism content?

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