“It’s time for Farage to tell women and girls across Britain how he would keep them safe online.”
Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has said Nigel Farage and Reform UK risk “failing a generation of young women” by threatening to scrap the Online Safety Act.
In a press conference at the end of last month, Reform vowed to scrap the act, which Labour has just brought into force.
They said that the act, which was introduced to push social media companies to curb false and harmful content, was an example of governmental over-reach and complained that it will alter people’s social media feeds.
Asked what Reform would do to protect children instead, Farage admitted he did not know. However, he claimed his party had expertise not available to the current government.
Rayner told the Sunday Telegraph that scrapping the act would remove protections against intimate image abuse, where offenders share or upload pictures or footage of others.
The deputy prime minister said: “Intimate image abuse is a devastating crime and contributes to a vile misogynistic culture on social media that we know translates into physical spaces too.”
“Nigel Farage risks failing a generation of young women with his dangerous and irresponsible plans to scrap online safety laws. Scrapping safeguards and having no viable alternative plan in place to halt the floodgates of abuse that could open is an appalling dereliction of duty.
“It’s time for Farage to tell women and girls across Britain how he would keep them safe online.”
Labour is launching a series of attack ads against Reform, including one published yesterday morning connected to Rayner’s comments. “Nigel Farage wants to make it easier to share revenge porn online,” it says, alongside an image of Farage grinning.
Yesterday, Labour also launched an attack ad highlighting Farage’s support for misogynist influencer Andrew Tate.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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