Schedule 17: Video sharing platform services: transitional provision etc Section 213: Offence under the Obscene Publications Act 1959: OFCOM defence
This section amends section 2 of the Obscene Publications Act 1959, to create a defence for employees of OFCOM and those assisting OFCOM in the exercise of OFCOM’s online safety functions regulatory functions under the Online Safety Act 2023.
	It inserts an additional subsection into the 1959 Act to create a defence for the offence of publishing an obscene article the effect of which is to tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely to read, see or hear the matter contained or embodied in it. This applies where the defendant is a member of OFCOM, employed or engaged by OFCOM or assisting OFCOM in the exercise of their online safety functions and the publication of the obscene article is made for the purpose of any of OFCOM’s online safety functions, as defined in section 235.
	We expect that the handling of this material may be necessary in the course of OFCOM’s delivery of their online safety functions, as services will be required by duties in the legislation to proactively identify and remove this content. For example, OFCOM may be required to handle this material when assessing a services’ systems and processes to assess how they handle illegal content.