The leftist Labour Party government’s technology minister has accused those in favour of repealing the censorious Online Safety Act, such as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, as being “on the side” of pedophiles and “extreme pornographers”.
Secretary of State for Technology Peter Kyle has drawn strong rebuke for risible comments likening free speech proponents to child sex predators such as former BBC host Jimmy Savile, after Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party vowed to repeal the Online Safety Act after the next election.
Appearing on Sky News on Tuesday, the Labour minister said: “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.”
Mr Kyle went on to say that he has seen no evidence that the censorship law “goes to far” in policing speech on the internet.
While the law, which was passed by the previous Tory government was presented as a means of preventing children from seeing pornography or extreme content, it has already begun to stifle political content on social media.
For example, footage of anti-mass migration protests have been “restricted” in Britain on the X platform for those who have not verified their age with the Elon Musk-owned company. The same has been done to a speech in the House of Commons by Conservative MP Katie Lam on the Pakistani Muslim child rape grooming gang scandal.
Responding from Reform UK’s new headquarters in London, leader Nigel Farage demanded an apology from the government minister for his “disgusting” accusations.
“Well this is so absolutely disgusting that it’s almost beyond belief. Just how low can the Labour Government sink in its desperation?” Farage questioned.
“Yes, of course they’re in trouble. They’re well behind us in the opinion polls. But frankly to say that I would do anything that would in any way aid and abet people like Jimmy Savile, it’s so below the belt”.
Meanwhile, the government’s Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, Jonathan Hall KC, told LBC Radio on Tuesday that the law will do “precious little” to prevent children from accessing extreme content.
Reform spokesman Zia Yusuf questioned Mr Kyle whether this meant that Hall was also on “on the side of predators”. Yusuf, a tech entrepreneur, has also claimed that the Act will do “absolutely nothing to protect children” but will rather be used to quell dissent and “force social media companies to censor anti-government speech.”
Under the law, UK broadcasting authority Ofcom has been empowered to levy fines of up to £18 million or 10 per cent of a social media platform’s global turnover if they fail to restrict speech in Britain.
In addition to demanding platforms police pornographic or otherwise extreme content, it also requires the restricting of content relating to ”
The kinds of illegal content and activity that platforms need to protect users from are set out in the Act, and this includes content relating to “racially or religiously aggravated public order offences,” “inciting violence,” or “illegal immigration, and people smuggling.”
