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New law to force tech companies to stop children taking or sharing nude images
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The government has said it will introduce a new law to force tech firms to prevent children from taking or sharing nude images on mobile devices.
Key facts
- An Apple spokesperson said it launched its Communication Safety feature in 2021 to help stop children from seeing or sharing imagery containing nudity
- and had since "continued to expand
- Chris Sherwood, NSPCC chief executive, said legislative plans were a "necessary move" after tech firms failed to meet the three-month deadline
- The team 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
- Andy Burrows of the Molly Rose Foundation said while the new proposals were "fundamental to their objective", it had been "a needlessly long and torturous road" to secure them
Summary
Apple and Google, which develop the operating systems of most smartphones used in the UK, were given three months in June to block access to nude images on smartphones and other devices used by under-18s. But culture secretary Lisa Nandy MP told MPs on Tuesday that despite "significant commitments" from both companies, current proposals "do not meet the scale of this crisis". She said ministers would look to legislate "as soon as they can" - with the caveat it may reassess these if firms develop and implement solutions sooner. Alongside making tech firms block nudity on devices used by children at device-level, the government said its draft legislation would also make providers of apps used by children introduce similar blocks on nude imagery.