Nigel Farage is putting “clicks for his monetised social media accounts” over children’s safety, safeguarding minister Jess Phillips has claimed.
Ms Phillips accused Reform UK’s leader of never worrying “about anything but likes and clicks” and being indifferent towards victims’ views on the Online Safety Act, which came into force in July.
This comes a week after Mr Farage likened the new rules to “state suppression of genuine free speech”, and said his party would ditch the regulations.
New rules – which came into effect on 25 July – include introducing age verification for adult websites, and ensuring algorithms do not harm children by exposing them to such content when they are online.
Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said that those who wanted to overturn the act were “on the side of predators” like Jimmy Savile – to which Mr Farage demanded an apology, calling Mr Kyle’s comments “absolutely disgusting”.
Mr Kyle has refused to retract or apologise for his statement, and Ms Phillips voiced her agreement with his comments, saying that “stronger safeguards” were needed to protect children.
“That’s why the Online Safety Act exists – to try to provide that basic minimum of protection and make it harder for paedophiles to prey on children at will. And we can’t afford to wait,” Ms Phillips wrote in The Times.
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The minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls warned that police have uncovered networks of paedophiles who “coerced and blackmailed” children using “normal websites where their parents assume they’re safe”.
She added that children themselves were also committing abuse, with half of recorded child sex offences last year where police know the age of the perpetrator being committed by 10 to 17-year-olds.
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Ms Phillips wrote: “We need to ask, why are so many teenage boys now abusing their fellow children?
“Perhaps Nigel Farage doesn’t worry about that – there’s no political advantage in it, and no clicks for his monetised social media accounts. But I do.”
A Reform source told The Times in response that Labour was “desperately embarrassing themselves with idiotic statements”.
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The Online Safety Act, which was passed in 2023, requires online platforms such as social media sites and search engines to take steps to prevent children from accessing harmful content such as pornography or material that encourages suicide.
Failure to comply with the new rules could incur fines of up to £18m or 10% of a firm’s global turnover, whichever is greater.
