Nigel Farage is “failing a generation of young women” with his plans to scrap the Online Safety Act, Angela Rayner has said, arguing the move would cause an increase in the prevalence of “revenge porn”.
The comments by the deputy prime minister are the latest criticism of Farage from the government, with Labour launching a parallel series of attack adverts on the Reform UK leader, including one showing him alongside the misogynist influencer Andrew Tate.
In a press conference at the end of last month, Reform promised to scrap the act, which had just come into force, saying measures intended to push social media companies to limit false and potentially harmful content would instead bring censorship and make the UK “a borderline dystopian state”.
In response, the science and technology secretary, Peter Kyle, accused Farage of being on the side of child abusers such as Jimmy Savile, bringing a furious response from the Reform leader.
In comments to the Sunday Telegraph, Rayner highlighted what she said would be the risks of getting rid of the act in terms of clamping down on what is formally known as intimate image abuse, where offenders either upload intimate pictures or footage of others or else share them via other means.
“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,” Rayner told the paper.
“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 linked series of online adverts against Farage, including one published on Sunday 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.
According to the Sunday Times, another advert will highlight Farage’s comments about Tate, the influencer who, along with his brother, Tristan, faces charges in the UK including rape, actual bodily harm and human trafficking.
The two British Americans are under investigation in Romania, facing a number of charges that they deny.
The Labour advert shows Farage with Andrew Tate and the headline: “Nigel Farage says Andrew Tate is an ‘important voice’ for men.” The comments come from an interview Farage did on the Strike It Big podcast last year.
Laila Cunningham, a former magistrate who has joined Reform, wrote a Telegraph article on Saturday in which she called the Online Safety Act “censorship laws”, saying laws already existed to combat “revenge porn”.
“It’s a cover for censorship, and an excuse to hand unelected regulators sweeping powers to silence views they don’t like, while doing nothing about the real crimes happening on our streets,” she wrote.
Cunningham said ministers should instead focus on detaining asylum seekers rather than putting them in hotels, saying that for now women “are being put in harm’s way” as the asylum seekers could pose a risk to them.