UK Cracks Down on Child Exploitation with Tough New Device Law

The UK government has decided to introduce legislation that will require Apple and Google to block nude images on children's phones and tablets. The law aims to prevent children from taking, sharing, or viewing explicit content.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told the House of Commons that voluntary talks with the tech giants had not gone far enough, so primary legislation was needed. This move follows a three-month deadline set in June for Apple and Google to implement built-in features to detect and block nude images on their devices.

Nandy acknowledged that the companies had made some commitments since then, including changes at the operating system level and age checks earlier this year. However, she emphasized that these efforts do not meet the scale of the crisis, which sees around 9,000 child sexual abuse offenses involving an online element each year.