Minister claims Farage is on the side of Jimmy Savile over plans to oppose online safety laws
The technology secretary Peter Kyle accused the Reform UK leader of wanting to 'turn the clock back to the time when strange adults, strangers can get in touch via messaging apps with children'.
It came after Mr Farage's party promised to scrap the Online Safety Act - a new set of laws aimed at protecting children and adults onlinedubbing it a 'dystopian' infringement of free speech.
Responding in a virtual broadcast on Tuesday morning, Mr Farage said the 'below the belt' comments were 'so disgusting its almost beyond belief'.
Under rules that came into effect on July 25, online platforms such as social media sites and search engines must take steps to prevent children from accessing harmful content such as pornography or material that encourages suicide.
But Reform UK said the Act, intended to reduce online harm, did 'absolutely nothing to protect children' but worked to 'suppress freedom of speech' and 'force social media companies to censor anti-government speech'.
Speaking to Sky News on Tuesday morning, Mr Kyle said: 'People have to understand the wild west that children have been living in for too long.
'That ended on my watch. It ended on the watch of this government.'
He added: '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.'
Asked to clarify his comments, Mr Kyle added: 'Nigel Farage is on the side of turning the clock back to the time when strange adults, strangers can get in touch via messaging apps with children.'
In the wake of the comments, the Reform leader demanded the technology secretary apologise, saying: 'Peter Kyle's comments on Sky News are disgusting. He should do the right thing and apologise.'
But Mr Kyle declined to do so, posting to social media: 'If you want to overturn the Online Safety Act, you are on the side of predators. It is as simple as that.'
In a broadcast from Reform's London headquarters later in the morning, the MP for Clacton said: 'Well this is so absolutely disgusting that it's almost beyond belief. Just how low can the Labour government sink in its desperation.
'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 it's almost not true.'
Meanwhile, former chief Brexit negotiator Lord David Frost described the comments as 'shameful', adding: 'What chance do we have of a proper debate about free speech if Labour ministers are going to resort to this?'
But Labour MP Mike Tapp came to Mr Kyle's defence, claiming Mr Farage's morning broadcast confirms 'he is indeed a delicate snowflake'.
The new measures in the Online Safety Act include introducing age verification for websites and ensuring algorithms do not work to harm children by, for example, promoting such content towards them when online.
Failing to comply with the new rules could incur fines of up to £18 million or 10 per cent of a firm's global turnover, whichever is greater.
The UK's independent reviewer of terrorism and state threat legislation Jonathan Hall KC warned that the Online Safety Bill will achieve 'precious little'.
'I think that children have got to stop using social media, full stop. And I think we need to go down the line that Australia has pioneered', he told LBC.
'I'm afraid the Online Safety Act is not going to be the solution.'
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