UK to legislate forcing Apple, Google to block nude images on children’s devices

The UK government announced on Tuesday that it will introduce legislation requiring Apple ↘ 1.17% and Google Alphabet Inc. ↗ 0.02% to prevent children from taking, sharing, or viewing nude images on smartphones and tablets, after both companies failed to meet a three-month deadline for voluntary compliance set in June.bbc+2

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told the House of Commons that despite "significant commitments" from both companies, their current proposals "do not meet the scale of this crisis." She said the government would introduce the bill "as soon as we can," though she stopped short of giving a precise timeline.bloomberg+1

A Deadline Missed

The Home Office originally gave Apple and Google until September to implement device-level protections blocking nudity on phones and tablets used by under-18s, warning of fines and, as a last resort, criminal liability for tech executives who failed to act. While Nandy acknowledged that both companies had made "meaningful changes," she told MPs she believed it was "almost certain" the government would need to legislate.mirror+1

Apple said it had launched its Communication Safety feature in 2021 and had "continued to expand its capabilities," adding that it had shared future plans with UK officials to "strengthen Communication Safety and other tools even further." Google called itself "an industry leader in combating non-consensual intimate imagery" and said it remained committed to child safety efforts.bbc

Sextortion Crisis Deepens

The push for legislation comes amid alarming data on child sextortion in the UK. The NSPCC told Metro that contacts to its Childline service about financially motivated sextortion had more than doubled in a year. The Internet Watch Foundation has separately reported that 91 percent of online child sexual abuse reports in 2024 contained self-generated content, underscoring the role devices play in the abuse cycle.aiweekly+2

Chris Sherwood, NSPCC chief executive, called the legislative plans "a necessary move" but urged the government to act quickly. "Children cannot face more delays," he said.bbc

Privacy Concerns Linger

The proposed law would apply not only to operating system makers but also to providers of apps used by children, requiring them to introduce similar nudity blocks. However, the Open Rights Group has warned that implementing the protections could mean "every adult would be forced through a digital ID checkpoint, and private images could be scanned by default." The government has denied the measures amount to surveillance.bbc

Andy Burrows of the Molly Rose Foundation described the journey to this point as "a needlessly long and torturous road" and said ministers would need to show they were "committed to delivering robust legislation without further delay."bbc