Google and Bing are making searching for pirated music and movies more difficult

Sites hosting pirated music, films and other creative material such as live streaming TV will now be demoted by two of the world's biggest search engines in the UK.

Google and Bing have today (February 20) signed up to a voluntary code of practice, which aims to protect users' safety by demoting illegal websites in its search results. 

The code, which is said to be the first of its type in the world, is expected to be in operation by the summer and will run in parallel with existing anti-piracy measures already in place.

These include court-ordered site blocking and the Get it Right From A Genuine Site consumer education campaign, which encourages the public to value the creative process and directs them to legal sources of content.

The initiative will also encourage all the parties involved to work together on improving issues such as autocomplete suggestions in search results, which currently can lead users to infringing sites. 

Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive BPI and BRIT Awards, said: "BPI has long campaigned for search engines to do more to ensure fans are directed to legal sources for music or other entertainment. There is much work still to do to achieve this.

"The Code will not be a silver bullet fix, but it will mean that illegal sites are demoted more quickly from search results and that fans searching for music are more likely to find a fair site."

Stan McCoy, President & Managing Director, Motion Picture Association EMEA, added: “Pirate websites are currently much too easy to find via search, so we appreciate the parties’ willingness to try to improve that situation.

"We look forward to working on this initiative alongside many other approaches to fighting online piracy, such as the 'Get it Right' campaign that aims to help educate consumers about the many ways to enjoy film and television content legally and at the time of their choosing. We are grateful for the Government’s involvement and support on this issue."