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Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.032831
I note you seek access to the following information:
1. Since 01/01/2021 how many drill music videos have you requested to be removed from You Tube, Spotify or other forums?
2.Can you breakdown by
a)forums and
b)individual videos.
3. Can you further list any who forums have refused to remove.
I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. Some data has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure and therefore this response serves as a Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) by virtue of the following exemptions:
Section 40(2)(3A)(a) – Personal Information
Reason for decision
With regards to question 2b, information relating to individuals is exempt by virtue of S40(2)(3A)(a) Personal Information
Section 40(2)(3A)(a) – Personal Information - I consider that Section 40(2) and 40(3A)(a) is applicable in this case, as any further disclosure at this level of detail, would breach the 1st data protection principle that requires personal data to be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to individuals.
There is no presumption of disclosure in relation to ‘personal data’ which is defined as: ‘any information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual’
“Identifiable living individual” means a living individual who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to—
(a) An identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data or an online identifier, or
(b) One or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of the individual.’
For such disclosure to be lawful, it would be necessary to satisfy a condition within Article 6 of the GDPR. Article 6 sets out the six lawful bases, applying to all processing; one of which must be in place in every case of disclosure of personal data, in accordance with the first data protection principle.
Here, we need to balance the rights and freedoms of the individuals involved with any legitimate public interest in disclosure. Any further disclosure of the requested information, complete with the individually named videos in question 2b, under FOIA legislation is not necessary to meet a legitimate interest, particularly when considering the distress that is likely to be caused to individuals with the disclosure of wholly personal information via an FOIA request.
With this in mind, the data subjects in the circumstances of your request would have a legitimate expectation that this type of personal data would not be used for non-policing purposes (i.e. FOIA requests – disclosures for which are also placed on the MPS website Publication Scheme).
Any further disclosure in the circumstances of your request would be unlawful and would therefore contravene the first data protection principle. I have therefore applied the exemption provided under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act to this information as the first condition, defined in subsection (3A)(a) of Section 40 has been satisfied. This therefore, becomes an absolute exemption.
Disclosure
Q1 - Since 01/01/2021 how many drill music videos have you requested to be removed from You Tube, Spotify or other forums?
Q2 - Can you breakdown by
Q2a - forums and
The MPS do not specifically request for content to be removed from the platform, we make referral for them to review the content against their community guidelines and/or terms of service. The decision to remove the content is made by the platform.
Please see below details of the number of referrals made broken down by platform.
Referrals to platforms and streaming services from 01/01/2021 to 31/10/2023 | |
YouTube | 500 |
53 | |
Spotify | 15 |
TikTok | 38 |
Kiss100 | 3 |
BBC Radio | 4 |
4 | |
Soundcloud | 35 |
Deezer Music | 3 |
AudioMack | 10 |
Apple | 8 |
Odysee Music Platform | 2 |
Reditt | 7 |
Total | 682 |
Q3 - Can you further list any who forums have refused to remove.
All of the platforms we have referred content to during this period have refused to remove content.