UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that tech companies, including Apple and Google, must activate built-in features or develop technical solutions to detect and block nude images on smartphones and tablets for children. This initiative aims to make Britain the first country globally where children cannot access such content on their devices. Adults will still be able to view and share nude content through an age verification process.
The government has given tech firms a three-month deadline to comply voluntarily. If companies fail to act by September, legislation will be introduced to force their compliance, which could include substantial fines. As a last resort, the government is also considering imposing criminal liability on tech bosses who do not adhere to the new rules. This push is driven by statistics showing that 91% of online child sexual abuse reports in 2024 involved self-generated content from children, and the average child views pornography by age 13.
The new measures will apply to all devices in the UK, both existing and new, and could affect operating system providers and retailers. While Apple has already introduced some age verification and content filtering features for its devices, the government is urging both Apple and Google to expand these protections to cover the entire device, across all apps and services, by default for children. These protections must operate without compromising privacy or collecting additional data, simply blocking harmful content.
This move builds on existing efforts like the Online Safety Act, but aims for a more comprehensive solution, addressing inconsistencies in current protection measures which are often deactivated by default or only blur, rather than block, content. The government emphasizes that these companies must "do the right thing" to safeguard children online, asserting that the safety of children is paramount and "nobody gets a free pass." Organizations like Big Brother Watch have expressed concerns that while child protection is vital, these plans may not address underlying causes of harm and could impact user privacy by requiring adult age verification to opt out of blocking.
