Part 12: Interpretation and final provisions Interpretation Section 231: "Proactive technology"
Proactive technology may be used by regulated service providers to comply with their duties about illegal content, content which is harmful to children and fraudulent advertising. As set out in those duties, the service provider must specify in their terms of service or publicly available statement if they use proactive technology. OFCOM may recommend the use of proactive technology in the codes of practice related to these duties (see Schedule 4, Paragraph 12), and may also impose confirmation decisions requiring the use of proactive technology (see section 136). Both actions by OFCOM are subject to certain constraints included in Schedule 4 and section 136, including considering the extent to which they might result in interference with users’ right to freedom of expression within the law. OFCOM can also recommend or require the use of proactive technology in relation to the Part 5duties, where necessary and proportionate.
	This section provides a definition of proactive technology. Proactive technology consists of three types of technology for the purposes of this legislation: content identification, user profiling and behaviour identification. The section gives limited examples of the types of technologies, and makes clear that this will in some cases include artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies.
	Content identification technology includes technology such as algorithms, keywords, image matching or image classification, which will involve, for instance, automatically analysing user-generated content across a user-to-user service for the purposes of assessing if this is illegal content. The service provider can then decide what action is required in respect of that content to comply with its safety duties about illegal content (section 10). Content identification technology is also an example of a technology that may be accredited technology in relation to the detection of terrorism content or CSEA content (see section 121). Technology which reviews content which has been flagged by a user report does not fall within this category. The restrictions on OFCOM recommending or requiring the use of proactive technology (see Schedule 4 and section 136) also apply to content identification technology operating on any kind of content.
	User profiling technology refers to tools which build a profile of the user, assessing characteristics, so that the service provider can limit their access to harmful content if necessary. The provision notes that this will involve the analysis of content and user data, or relevant metadata of content and user data, which means this includes looking at a number of factors, such as what they post and view online, and could include data the service provider has from a partner site, for example. This includes data created by providers of all regulated services, including providers subject to the Part 5 pornography duties. It doesn’t include technology that checks data (such as ID) provided by the user to verify age.
	Behaviour identification technology is a category of technology which assesses harmful behaviour online, including criminal activity. This also concerns the analysis of content and user data, or relevant metadata of content and user data. The provision clarifies that this does not mean investigations conducted by service providers into specific users, where technology is used in response to concerns identified by another person (or another automated tool).Subsection (8) defines relevant content, which includes user-generated content, content capable of being searched in a search engine, and provider pornographic content (see 80(2)). Subsection (9) defines user data, which is a category of data which these tools will analyse in addition to content and metadata. It specifies that this will include personal data, as well as data that the service provider will create about user activity, or obtain from partner services.