Online harms research publications: December 2022
This is a selection of research reports to enhance the online harms evidence base. This research has helped improve understanding of harms experienced by adults and children, as well as how online harm can be measured.
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These research projects were carried out to enhance understanding of the online harms evidence base during the development of the Online Safety Bill. These reports look at a number of specific issues related to adult and child online harm and utilise a variety of research methods.
Some of the terminology within these reports refers to sections that were included in the Online Safety Bill at the time time the reports were written. Given developments to the Online Safety Bill, some of this terminology has now changed.
In addition, the ‘British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) assessment of adult sites’ functionality’ and ‘BBFC further research on traffic to and functionality of adult sites’ were completed using the proposed scope for the Online Safety Bill given in the initial response to the online harms white paper consultation published on 12 February 2020, which was ‘companies that provide services which facilitate the sharing of user-generated content or user interactions, for example through comments, forums or video sharing’. The scope of the Online Safety Bill has since broadened to include search services and pornography publishers.