'If you censor me, you’re making a mistake’: Trump responds to online safety laws amid claims ‘free speech at risk’
Donald Trump has said censoring his Truth Social website "would be a mistake," with Sir Keir Starmer telling the US President that the UK is "committed to free speech".
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Speaking as the pair met at Trump's Turnberry golf course in Scotland on Monday, the president said he thinks it’s ‘unlikely’ his website would be censored, when asked if the UK’s Online Safety Act will affect it.
“I cannot imagine him (Starmer) censoring Truth Social … I only say good things about him and his country,” he told reporters in Turnberry, Scotland.
Starmer defended the Online Safety Act, saying "we're not censoring anyone", and that the laws are geared at protecting children.
The leaders have been taking questions from the press at Trump's Turnberry golf resort during his five-day visit to the UK.
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Answering questions about the Act alongside Trump, the Prime Minister said: "We're not censoring anyone. We've got some measures which are there to protect children, in particular, from sites like suicide sites.
"We've had too many cases in the United Kingdom of young children taking their own lives.
"When you look at their social media, they've been accessing sites which talk about suicide and encouraging, if you like, children down that road, and that is what we want to stop."
He said the UK had free speech "for a very long time", adding: "We're very, very proud of it, we will protect it forever.
"But at the same time, I personally feel very strongly that we should protect our young teenagers, and that's what it usually is, from things like suicide sites. I don't see that as a free speech issue, I see that as child protection."
Trump said the US congress had passed similar legislation supported by his wife, "to pull bad stuff out having to do with children".
The US president also joked: "I don't think he's going to censor my site because I say only good things. Please un-censor my site."
The Online Safety Act came into effect on Friday, overhauling how Brits are able to interact with the internet in efforts to protect children from harmful content.
Under the rules, social media companies and websites need to meet strict rules - including "robust" age checks to prevent access to pornography.
Since the start of his second presidential term, Trump has been criticised for his attacks on free speech, himself being accused of censorship.
This includes wide-ranging attacks on American universities, resulting a high-profile lawsuit launched by Harvard alleging the Trump Administration's actions violate the US constitution's free speech guarantees.
He has also targeted journalists and lawyers in the US that he perceives as being against him, including an unprecedented ban on AP journalists from entering the White House.
This has led the US' ranking in several press freedom and democracy indices to drastically decline. In the 2024 World Press Freedom Index, the United States was ranked 55th, and its situation was classified as "problematic".