It suggests a further rift between Nigel Farage and his friend the US President – after Reform UK vowed to scrap new rules introduced last week
Keir Starmer says Donald Trump agrees with him on new online safety laws – saying both leaders want to protect children from harmful content online.
It suggests a further rift between Nigel Farage and his friend the US President – after Reform UK vowed to scrap new rules introduced last week.
The rules aim to prevent children from seeing harmful or inappropriate content online.
It comes after the US President made a bizarre arm gesture during a walkabout on the White House roof.
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Measures introduced last week include stricter checks before allowing access to age-restricted content – and requiring quicker reactions from tech firms when harmful content is identified.
Farage argued the new rules would suppress free speech.
But Mr Starmer said there was “more agreement” between him and Trump than might have been expected, in an interview with 5 News today.
When the pair met in Scotland last week, the PM said, he’d told Trump he was “in favour of free speech, of course.
“But I said but I’m also in favour of protecting our children and I think that’s really important. That’s not a free speech issue as far as I’m concerned.”
He said there was “more agreement between me and the President than you might think because he too understands that you have to protect children.”
Mr Starmer went on: “I think that when it comes to children and protecting them from real harm including sexual exploitation there’s just got to be a clear line.
“We have to protect our children, of course, at the same time as championing free speech more generally.”
Trump even joked about the online safety measures during a Q&A with the two leader in Turnberry, Ayrshire.
“I cannot imagine (Starmer) censoring Truth Social,” Trump said. “I only say good things about him and his country.”