Matt Le Tissier has hit out at the Online Harms Bill, saying the Government should be prioritising other issues instead.
The bill, which was introduced to Parliament last month, “aims to protect children from harmful content such as pornography and limit people’s exposure to illegal content”, according to the Government.
But Le Tissier says he doesn’t need the Government helping to keep him safe “from people saying something nasty about me.”
Instead, he would rather they paid more attention to the country’s health service and choosing better ways to spend their money.
Matt Le Tissier says he doesn't want the Online Harms bill
GB News
Speaking exclusively to GB News, the former footballer said: “There is a lot countries now who are pushing legislation through their parliaments that are trying to restrict people's freedom of speech under the auspices of your safety.
“The Online Harms bill in this country and all that kind of stuff, they’ll try and make you believe that it’s for your own safety.
“But to be honest, I don’t want the Government to keep me safe from words, I don’t need the Government to keep me safe from people saying something nasty about me, I don’t need that."
He continued: “I want my Government to look after the health service, spend our taxes properly, don’t waste it on wars and have better services in our country.
“So I think there is a lot of stuff going on with the freedom of speech and once you lose that freedom of speech, there’s only one way your society is going to go and it’s not in a good place.”
Le Tissier has been recently slammed for his views on Covid-19 and the Ukraine war on Twitter.
As a result, he has opted to step away from the social media site, now owned by Elon Musk, for the time being.
Le Tissier wants Elon Musk to reinstate Donald Trump's Twitter account
Niall Carson
And the former Southampton and England star says he will only believe Musk’s freedom of speech claims if he reinstates former US President Donald Trump’s account.
Le Tissier added: “I’d love it if it was because I do think it has the potential to be a really good platform but from what I’ve seen I think they’re still being quite censorious on there, they’re still blocking certain things, blocking certain people’s accounts.
“The test of it all really, if he is really serious about freedom of speech is, will he reinstate President Trump’s account.
“Because it seems a really bizarre concept to me that President Trump is banned from having a Twitter account, but Vladimir Putin and the Ayatollah of Iran and members of ISIS, they’re all on Twitter and quote happily tweeting away.
“And It’s like, hang on a minute, where’s the sense in this?
“So if he does want to be taken seriously as a free speech platform, I think the real test is does he allow President Trump back on the platform.
“And that’s not to say Trump, he will probably not even accept the offer to go back on there, but the fact that he should make that offer would go a long way to convincing people that he’s serious about this free speech thing.”
