Section 4“Regulated service”, “Part 3 service” etc

(1) This section applies for the purposes of this Act.

(2) A user-to-user service is a “regulated user-to-user service”, and a search service is a “regulated search service”, if the service—

• (a)
  has links with the United Kingdom (see subsections (5) and (6)), and
• (b)
  is not—

  • (i)
    a service of a description that is exempt as provided for by Schedule 1, or
  • (ii)
    a service of a kind described in Schedule 2 (services combining user-generated content or search content not regulated by this Act with pornographic content that is regulated).

(3) “Part 3 service” means a regulated user-to-user service or a regulated search service.

(4) “Regulated service” means—

• (a)
  a regulated user-to-user service,
• (b)
  a regulated search service, or
• (c)
  an internet service, other than a regulated user-to-user service or a regulated search service, that is within section 80(2) (including a service of a kind described in Schedule 2).

(5) For the purposes of subsection (2), a user-to-user service or a search service “has links with the United Kingdom” if—

• (a)
  the service has a significant number of United Kingdom users, or
• (b)
  United Kingdom users form one of the target markets for the service (or the only target market).

(6) For the purposes of subsection (2), a user-to-user service or a search service also “has links with the United Kingdom” if—

• (a)
  the service is capable of being used in the United Kingdom by individuals, and
• (b)
  there are reasonable grounds to believe that there is a material risk of significant harm to individuals in the United Kingdom presented by—

  • (i)
    in the case of a user-to-user service, user-generated content present on the service or (if the service includes a search engine) search content of the service;
  • (ii)
    in the case of a search service, search content of the service.

(7) A regulated user-to-user service that includes a public search engine is referred to in this Act as a “combined service”.

“Public search engine” means a search engine other than one in relation to which the conditions in paragraph 7(2) of Schedule 1 (internal business service conditions) are met.

(8) In this section—

• “search content” has the same meaning as in Part 3 (see section 57);
• “user-generated content” has the meaning given by section 55 (see subsections (3) and (4) of that section).