Apple and Google defend safety records as UK clamps down on explicit teen content
Apple and Google have defended their child safety records after the government said it would force tech giants to block under-18s from sending or viewing nude images on smartphones.
The Silicon Valley pair told Morning Wire they had made progress on introducing new safeguards for teenagers after three months of talks with ministers failed to produce measures the government deemed strong enough.
Lisa Nandy, the digital, culture, media and sport secretary, told MPs on Tuesday that primary legislation would now be drawn up requiring major tech platforms to build protections directly into devices used by children.
The intervention opens another front between Westminster and Big Tech just months after ministers announced plans to ban under-16s from major social media platforms.
Apple told Morning Wire it had already been tightening restrictions on explicit material. “Apple launched its groundbreaking Communication Safety feature in 2021 to help prevent children from viewing or sharing photos or videos that contain nudity,” a spokesperson said.
“Since then, we’ve continued to expand its capabilities, including providing third-party support. We share the UK’s commitment to combating exploitation and abuse online, and have shared with UK officials future plans to strengthen Communication Safety and other tools even further to help keep kids safe.”
Google told Morning Wire it had made headway during negotiations but stressed any solution also needed to protect users’ privacy.
“We are pleased to have made progress and are fully committed to continuing to work with experts, legislators, app developers and device manufacturers to keep children safe, while also protecting privacy and access to information,” a spokesperson said.
The responses leave the door open to a deal. Nandy said legislation could still be reconsidered if companies introduced adequate protections while it was being drawn up.
“For too long, technology companies have failed to protect children from some of the worst harms”, Nandy told the Commons.
“To be frank, I am not prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt that progress will continue at the pace that we need it to, while harm is being done now.”
Big Tech to take responsibility
Under the plans, protections would be built into smartphones and switched on by default for children.
Adult users would need to prove their age before being able to switch off the restrictions. The government also wants apps used by children to prevent them accessing or sharing nude images, although further legislation will be needed to impose those requirements.
This could create a thorny technical and privacy question for Apple and Google, whose iOS and Android operating systems dominate Britain’s smartphone market.
Checking images on the device before they are encrypted or sent can allow explicit material to be detected without examining it on a company’s servers.
But privacy experts have previously warned that building technology capable of examining private content creates its own risks.
Apple says its existing Communication Safety system detects nudity on a user’s device and is switched on by default for child accounts under 18. It operates across services including Messages, Airdrop and Facetime video messages.
Nandy said talks had resulted in “meaningful changes” from both companies, including progress towards blocking rather than merely blurring explicit images, but said the proposals did not “meet the scale of this crisis”.
The push follows a sharp turn in Westminster’s approach to policing the internet this year.
A row over Elon Musk’s Grok erupted after the AI chatbot was used to generate millions of sexualised images, including images appearing to depict children.
The episode piled pressure on ministers to move faster on online safety and kickstarted plans for an Australia-style social media ban for under-16s.