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Publicising terrorism in private: criminal law, online safety and the meaning of "public communications"

Stuart Macdonald Orcid Logo, Jonathan Hall

Law Quarterly Review, Volume: 141, Pages: 271 - 292

Swansea University Author: Stuart Macdonald Orcid Logo

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Abstract

The Online Safety Act creates the power to impose a Terrorism Content Notice on providers of user-to-user services, requiring them to identify and swiftly remove terrorism content that has been communicated publicly, not privately. A distinction between public and private communications has also bee...

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Published in: Law Quarterly Review
ISSN: 0023-933X
Published: Sweet & Maxwell 2025
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa66716
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spelling 2025-03-13T13:50:29.6768266 v2 66716 2024-06-12 Publicising terrorism in private: criminal law, online safety and the meaning of "public communications" 933e714a4cc37c3ac12d4edc277f8f98 0000-0002-7483-9023 Stuart Macdonald Stuart Macdonald true false 2024-06-12 HRCL The Online Safety Act creates the power to impose a Terrorism Content Notice on providers of user-to-user services, requiring them to identify and swiftly remove terrorism content that has been communicated publicly, not privately. A distinction between public and private communications has also been drawn in the practical application of the encouragement of terrorism offence, to which Terrorism Content Notices are inextricably linked via the definition of terrorism content. This article argues that this dichotomous public/private approach is flawed. Through an examination of how Islamic State disseminates its propaganda online, the article demonstrates empirically that such content may be communicated publicly in (what some might regard as) private settings. It discusses various factors that might be considered when answering what should be the key question – whether the content was communicated publicly or not – including the number of users that are able to access the statement and any restrictions on access. Journal Article Law Quarterly Review 141 271 292 Sweet & Maxwell 0023-933X Communications; Encouragement of terrorism; Encryption; Enforcement; Online intermediaries; Online safety; Publication; Service providers; Social media 1 4 2025 2025-04-01 COLLEGE NANME Hillary Rodham Clinton Law School COLLEGE CODE HRCL Swansea University Not Required 2025-03-13T13:50:29.6768266 2024-06-12T21:06:44.1570789 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Hilary Rodham Clinton School of Law Stuart Macdonald 0000-0002-7483-9023 1 Jonathan Hall 2 66716__30625__2a20f48f3bac47fd82909a43334e40d4.pdf Cronfa.pdf 2024-06-12T21:12:20.6098740 Output 398108 application/pdf Accepted Manuscript true Author accepted manuscript document released under the terms of a Creative Commons CC-BY licence using the Swansea University Research Publications Policy (rights retention). true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en
title Publicising terrorism in private: criminal law, online safety and the meaning of "public communications"
spellingShingle Publicising terrorism in private: criminal law, online safety and the meaning of "public communications"
Stuart Macdonald
title_short Publicising terrorism in private: criminal law, online safety and the meaning of "public communications"
title_full Publicising terrorism in private: criminal law, online safety and the meaning of "public communications"
title_fullStr Publicising terrorism in private: criminal law, online safety and the meaning of "public communications"
title_full_unstemmed Publicising terrorism in private: criminal law, online safety and the meaning of "public communications"
title_sort Publicising terrorism in private: criminal law, online safety and the meaning of "public communications"
author_id_str_mv 933e714a4cc37c3ac12d4edc277f8f98
author_id_fullname_str_mv 933e714a4cc37c3ac12d4edc277f8f98_***_Stuart Macdonald
author Stuart Macdonald
author2 Stuart Macdonald
Jonathan Hall
format Journal article
container_title Law Quarterly Review
container_volume 141
container_start_page 271
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 0023-933X
publisher Sweet & Maxwell
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str Hilary Rodham Clinton School of Law{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}Hilary Rodham Clinton School of Law
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description The Online Safety Act creates the power to impose a Terrorism Content Notice on providers of user-to-user services, requiring them to identify and swiftly remove terrorism content that has been communicated publicly, not privately. A distinction between public and private communications has also been drawn in the practical application of the encouragement of terrorism offence, to which Terrorism Content Notices are inextricably linked via the definition of terrorism content. This article argues that this dichotomous public/private approach is flawed. Through an examination of how Islamic State disseminates its propaganda online, the article demonstrates empirically that such content may be communicated publicly in (what some might regard as) private settings. It discusses various factors that might be considered when answering what should be the key question – whether the content was communicated publicly or not – including the number of users that are able to access the statement and any restrictions on access.
published_date 2025-04-01T09:21:15Z
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score 11.057753

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