According to Bloomberg, the United Kingdom is planning new legislation that would compel Apple and Google to prevent children from capturing, transmitting, or viewing nude pictures on their smartphones and tablets.
Apple announces its intention to enhance Communication Safety
The UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy declared in a parliamentary statement that the government will propose legislation mandating major technology platforms, such as Apple and Google, to develop device‑level safeguards that block children from taking, sharing, or viewing nude images on their devices.
She noted that the proposal will be presented to Parliament promptly, after a three‑month period in June during which tech firms were asked to roll out these safeguards voluntarily.
During her address to the House of Commons, Nandy recognized that Apple and Google have implemented notable updates since then, yet emphasized that these adjustments fall short of addressing the magnitude of the issue.
From her statement:
Children are encountering severe online sexual harm; they are being groomed, pressured, and forced to produce and share intimate images across various online platforms.
Children are facing unacceptable levels of sexual harm online. They are being groomed, coerced, and manipulated into creating and sharing intimate images across online services.
The Internet Watch Foundation believes that 91% of these images are self-generated by children themselves. They are used for blackmail and sexual extortion.
Each year, around 9,000 child sexual abuse offences involve an online element, with under 18s the subject of almost a quarter of online blackmail.
The Internet Watch Foundation estimates that 91% of these images are created by the children themselves, and they are frequently exploited for blackmail and sexual extortion.
Annually, roughly 9,000 child sexual abuse cases include an online component, and individuals under 18 account for nearly a quarter of the victims of online blackmail.
Nandy said that device‑level safeguards are only one part of a two‑pronged approach, the second involving requirements for apps used by children to stop them from accessing or sharing nudity:
We intend to examine what legislative measures are required to fulfill this pledge, aiming to act swiftly and ensure that the entire ecosystem shifts, addressing the methods through which children are most frequently abused or groomed online.
We will explore what legislation is needed to implement this commitment, with a view to moving as quickly as possible. This will ensure that the whole ecosystem changes, tackling the means by which children are most often abused or groomed in the online world.
In a statement to Bloomberg, Apple affirmed its alignment with the UK’s commitment to fighting online exploitation and abuse, noting that it has communicated with UK officials about future enhancements to Communication Safety and additional tools designed to protect children.
Apple also reported that in 2021 it launched a feature that blocks children from viewing or sharing photos or videos containing nudity, and added that the feature now supports third‑party applications.
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