Labour’s Science Minister Peter Kyle scored a monumental own goal by suggesting Nigel Farage is on Jimmy Savile’s side with regard to the Online Safety Bill, the Reform UK leader has claimed.
Speaking on the People’s Channel, Nigel took aim at Kyle in a brutal response to his comments on the media round this morning.
The Labour minister criticised him for not backing the Online Safety Act which aims to keep children safe online by tightening restrictions on user generated content.
The Reform UK leader said on GB News: “Just to be very clear, I am not on Jimmy Savile’s side and I thought it was an absolutely appalling thing for him to say.
GB NEWS / SKY NEWS
|Nigel lashed out at Peter Kyle again
“It probably shows you how much trouble they are in as a Government. It was a very stupid thing to say given his party leader Keir Starmer faced a barrage of criticism for not prosecuting Jimmy Savile when he was in charge of the Crown Prosecution Service and subsequently apologised to the nation.
Starmer was not involved in the Crown Prosecution Service’s failures over Jimmy Savile, but apologised on its behalf rather than any personal capacity.
“I don’t want to spend too much time talking about Peter Kyle, I think there are more important aspects to talk about.”
Nigel said the act has many major limitations and will not achieve its goal of protecting children online.
He pointed to a community note doing the rounds on X that said the Online Safety Act is prohibiting online users from accessing content the legislation was not intended for.
X
|Peter Kyle's tweet was handed a community note on X
He said: “That includes a community note on X that was put back to Peter Kyle. It says ‘since coming into force Online Safety Act has blocked / restricted censored content that wasn’t what the act was for. This includes immigration, parliament debates.
“‘Wikipedia is challenging the categorisation rules as the act will mean tough restrictions on the site’.
“My first serious objection is we’re told it’s to protect children, but I suspect most 13-year-olds are more tech savvy than Peter Kyle.
“There are things out there called VPNs. You can get around all of this and hide your IP address. It will cost you £2 a month or something like that.
GB NEWS
|Nigel Farage fears a real threat to free speech
“Interestingly, since the 25 July, a VPN website saw a 2000 per cent increase in the number of people subscribing. Here’s the worry, of course we want to protect children from extreme content but if they get their stuff from VPNs, they will be able to use the dark web.
“Maybe this is just a sledgehammer to miss the nut, but the worry is it leads to a genuine crackdown on free speech.”
Nigel is also concerned about additional powers handed to Kyle himself, claiming he will singlehandedly be able to impose new censorship rules that will avoid parliamentary scrutiny.
“It gives unchecked ministerial power to Peter Kyle”, he warned.
“He will be able to unilaterally impose new censorship rules without parliamentary rules or votes and make sure Ofcom will regulate according to his demands.
“Perhaps the biggest worry is Section 179. It says, ‘If anybody communicates something false that causes non-trivial psychological harm, that could be criminal behaviour’.
“That means satire could be dead. Satire takes a grain of truth and exaggerates it in a way that is slightly false. I think this is a genuine threat on free speech.”