Emily Darlington claimed the bill was vital to protect children from predators online, and that its critics were failing to consider how online abuse spilled into real life
Nigel Farage’s opposition to the Online Safety Act would see “porn back into children’s pockets”, a Labour MP has warned.
Emily Darlington, who sits on Westminster’s tech committee, claimed the bill was vital to protect children from predators online, and that its critics were failing to consider how online abuse spilled into real life.
The Milton Keynes Central MP also raised concerns over catfishing, revealing it was a widespread problem for young people in her community.
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Speaking exclusively to The Mirror, she said: “The Labour Government is trying to put porn back on the top shelf, and Nigel Farage’s literally saying repeal the online safety act and put it back into our children’s pockets.
“Are we saying when you are 18 you can watch it, or are you going to allow any young person with a phone and access to the internet to be fed this into their streams? He wants to get rid of it, he says it’s about free speech but the reality is that it’s got nothing to do with free speech.
“This is actually about pushing their own agenda, and the reality is it’s really dangerous to our children and we haven’t been aggressive enough, OFCOM, the Government, ourselves, in saying that the Online Safety Act isn’t perfect, but it is doing some really good things that are really important.
“By bringing these rules in, we’re protecting the free speech of everybody, and we’re protecting children.”
Reform UK has said it would scrap the new law, arguing it does not protect children and suppresses free speech. Ms Darlington, who has previously grappled with the Tate brothers online and grilled X representatives over slurs on the platform, also shared horrific stories of catfishing.
She said it was a major problem for young people, with a survey of 500 young people in her constituency revealing a third had been approached by strangers online.
Ms Darlington explained: “These strangers are not really people we would want, it’s from paedophiles, to groomers, and others.
“The majority of grooming is now happening online. It’s causing real, real harm for some really vulnerable young people, and it’s a bit of the debate that is missing when we talk about what online harms are. It is not just happening online, it moves into real life for too many young people”. Reform UK did not respond to requests for comment.