Section 17 — Online advertising of unlawful immigration services

(1) A person commits an offence if—

(a) the person creates, or causes the creation of, material whose purpose is, or effect will be, to promote an unlawful immigration service, and

(b) the person knows or has reason to suspect—

(i) that the material will be published on an internet service, and

(ii) that the material has that purpose or will have that effect.

(2) A person commits an offence if—

(a) the person publishes material on an internet service or causes the publication of material on such a service,

(b) the purpose of the material is, or the effect of the material will be, to promote an unlawful immigration service, and

(c) the person knows or has reason to suspect—

(i) that they are publishing the material or (as the case may be) that they are causing its publication, and

(ii) that the material has that purpose or will have that effect.

(3) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to prove that the person’s action was for the purposes of—

(a) carrying out, or facilitating the carrying out of, work as a journalist, or

(b) the publication of academic research.

(4) A person who commits an offence under this section is liable—

(a) on summary conviction in England and Wales, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding the general limit in a magistrates’ court or a fine (or both);

(b) on summary conviction in Scotland, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum (or both);

(c) on summary conviction in Northern Ireland, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum (or both);

(d) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or a fine (or both).

(5) In this section “material” means anything which consists of or includes—

(a) text or moving or still images, or

(b) speech or music.

(6) In this section—

(a) “unlawful immigration service” means a service whose purpose is to facilitate the commission of—

(i) an offence under any of the Immigration Acts,

(ii) a breach of immigration law (other than such an offence), or

(iii) an offence under section 4, 5 or 6 of the Identity Documents Act 2010 in relation to an identity document within any of paragraphs (a) to (c) of section 7(1) of that Act,

whether by providing goods or services, or both, or anything else;

(b) “immigration law” has the meaning given by section 25(2) of the Immigration Act 1971.

(7) In this section “publish” means make available to the public at large or any section of the public, whether or not in return for payment or any other form of consideration.

(8) In this section “internet service” means a service that is made available by means of—

(a) the internet, or

(b) a combination of the internet and an electronic communications service (as defined by section 32(2) of the Communications Act 2003).

(9) This section is subject to section 18.