Minister accuses Farage of being on side of ‘pornographers’ in online safety row
A row has broken out between Labour and Reform after the UK Government’s Technology Secretary accused Nigel Farage of being on the side of “extreme pornographers” and “Jimmy Savile” over his party’s pledge to scrap the Online Safety Act.
Mr Farage labelled the comments “disgusting” and called on Peter Kyle to apologise, after the Cabinet minister said the Reform leader is “on the side of turning the clock back” to when “strangers can get in touch via messaging apps with children”.
Former Reform chairman Zia Yusuf claimed the remarks are “one of the most outrageous and disgusting things a politician has said in the political arena”.
Harmful content
Under rules that came into effect on July 25, online platforms such as social media sites and search engines must take steps to prevent children accessing harmful content such as pornography or material that encourages suicide.
Mr Yusuf said on Monday that the party would repeal the legislation if they got into Government, claiming it works to “suppress freedom of speech” and “force social media companies to censor anti-government speech”.
Speaking to Sky News on Tuesday, Mr Kyle said that children have been living in a “wild west” and labelled the new law “a big step forward”.
He added: “I see that Nigel Farage is already saying that he’s going to overturn these laws. So you know, we have people out there who are extreme pornographers, peddling hate, peddling violence. Nigel Farage is on their side.
“Make no mistake about it, if people like Jimmy Savile were alive today, he’d be perpetrating his crimes online. And Nigel Farage is saying that he’s on their side.”
Asked to clarify his comments, Mr Kyle said: “Nigel Farage is on the side of turning the clock back to the time when strange adults, strangers can get in touch via messaging apps with children.”
‘Disgusting’
Mr Farage reacted on X by calling Mr Kyle’s remarks “disgusting” and said “he should do the right thing and apologise”.
Mr Kyle then doubled down on his comments in response, and said that “if you want to overturn the Online Safety Act you are on the side of predators. It is as simple as that.”
Mr Yusuf claimed that Mr Kyle’s remarks showed “how deeply unserious” the Government was about child safety, adding: “Talking about Jimmy Savile in that way does nothing other than denigrate the victims of Jimmy Savile.”
He told Sky News that the comments are “one of the most outrageous and disgusting things a politician has said in the political arena that I can remember. And that’s quite a high bar, frankly.”
Sir Keir Starmer jumped to defend the legislation from its critics when he met Donald Trump on Monday, telling reporters “We’re not censoring anyone”.
“We’ve got some measures which are there to protect children, in particular, from sites like suicide sites.”
He added: “I personally feel very strongly that we should protect our young teenagers, and that’s what it usually is, from things like suicide sites. I don’t see that as a free speech issue, I see that as child protection.”
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Sleazy party with lots of sleazy candidates.
Just show how disgusting Farage is if he withdraws it
Peter Kyle stick to your guns, do not apologise.
Is this the point at which people will see that Farage and Reform are totally unfit to govern in any shape or form.
What aren’t we being told?
I see a Farage supporter has sneaked in and voted down your comments. Someone who doesn’t want children protected on the Internet apparently. No wonder they’re sneaking in but not leaving a comment!
Ultimately, Reform is a protest party. A party that uses people’s grudges – like the 20 mph speed limit policy – to gain votes. It doesn’t have answers to why these policies were brought about in the first place. It’ll suck in all the discontented voters and once in power find itself in trouble. Some new local Reform councillors are already resigning – finding themselves out of their depth. We can not allow it to happen in Cymru – the party will make our country poorer before it falls on it’s sword.
Anyone asked the LibDems what they think? They outnumber Farage in MP’s.
Free speech only when he wants it.
I’m going to get downvoted to hell and back because people aren’t going to read this properly, or are going to deliberately misinterpret/misrepresent what I actually said. But I’m going to post it anyway. The Online Safety Act is a terrible piece of legislation. It does nothing to “protect” children. I grew up with computers and the internet; I work in a highly technical field and I’ve been in front of one kind of computer or another since I was 5 years old. I’m not even that “old”, I’m in my early 40s, but I can guarantee you that there… Read more »
Comment of the month. Well done.
What’s the solution then? Because something has to be done. Farage had no meaningful response to this question when he was asked.
All new internet connections come with a filtering of adult and gambling sites enabled by default, and the bill payer can request its removal and accepts responsibility for who uses the connection.
Not this.
Educate parents, encourage them to talk to their kids, fund sex education and sexual health education, promote greater awareness of content limiting tools, provide an identity verification service through gov.uk.
And when experts in the field are consulted, take their advice for once instead of seeing them as obstructive.
The same party whose candidate for Banbury Hardwick in the Oxfordshire County Council local elections this year referred to Jimmy Savile as a “working class hero”?
The same party that floated the idea of legalising the possession of indecent images of children on “libertarian grounds” in 2019?
Next they’ll be telling us safeguarding and child protection training is “woke Cultural Marxism”.
Those people with placards reading
“ Protect our children” protesting outside hotels housing asylum seekers, perhaps they should find a new venue.
Reform’s Clacton office perhaps?