The UK technology secretary, Peter Kyle, has become embroiled in a row with Nigel Farage after saying the Reform leader was on the side of child abusers such as Jimmy Savile when it came to online safety.

Farage called for an apology from Kyle, saying the comparison was “disgusting”. He claimed it was not unreasonable to call for the repeal of the Online Safety Act that came into force last week.

Kyle doubled down, saying the act forced providers to “detect and remove horrific child sexual abuse material, using hash matching [technology], [which] prevents grooming and stops strange adults messaging kids, keeps children’s profiles and locations hidden, and stops kids seeing porn”.

Reform UK said on Monday it would repeal the act, arguing that measures intended to push social media companies to limit false and potentially harmful content would make the UK “a borderline dystopian state”.

Farage and Zia Yusuf, his government efficiency chief, told a press conference that a Reform government would repeal the legislation immediately and seek other ways to replicate its efforts to protect children from harmful content, for example about suicide. They said they did not yet know how this would be done.

Responding on Sky News, Kyle said Farage was on the side of “extreme pornographers” and of people such as the late children’s TV presenter Savile, who preyed on about 500 vulnerable victims as young as two years old.

Kyle said: “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, Kyle said: “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.”

Farage posted on X: “Peter Kyle’s comments on Sky News are disgusting. He should do the right thing and apologise.”

He also gave a livestream broadcast saying: “Just how low can the Labour government sink in their 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.”

Yusuf, a former Reform chair, claimed it was “the most disgusting thing I’ve heard a politician say about another politician in the political arena, that I can remember in my lifetime”.

He said parts of the act intended to shield children from harmful content, such as a requirement on age verification, were pointless because people could simply use VPN proxy servers to access sites as if they were outside the UK.

Asked how Reform would protect children, Farage has said he did not know but claimed his party had expertise not available to the government.