The UK has given major technology companies, including Apple and Google, three months to activate built-in safeguards on smartphones and tablets to detect and block nude images for children.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the controls should stop children from taking, sending, receiving, or viewing sexually explicit images on their devices.
The government said the move is aimed at preventing online predators from exploiting and abusing children through smartphones and tablets. It also wants to stop children from accessing pornography.
Legal Action
If companies fail to act within three months, the UK government plans to introduce legislation forcing them to activate the technology.
The proposed action could include fines for companies that do not comply. As a last resort, the government is also exploring criminal liability for technology executives who fail to meet the requirement.
Starmer said technology companies can solve the issue and warned that the government would change the law if they do not act.
Child Safety Concerns
The move follows growing concern over online child sexual abuse and self-generated explicit content.
The Internet Watch Foundation recorded that 91% of online child sexual abuse reports assessed as criminal in 2024 contained self-generated imagery.
Authorities say children as young as five are being groomed, manipulated, and coerced by online predators into creating and sharing explicit images.
Predators can then use those images to blackmail children into creating more extreme material. In some severe cases, officials say children have been pushed toward self-harm or suicide during livestreamed abuse.
How The Controls Would Work
The proposed safeguards would use device-level tools to detect and block nude images for children across smartphones and tablets.
The government says the features are not intended to monitor people’s phones or collect personal data. Instead, the device would block harmful content across apps and services.
Officials say there would be no data collection, no monitoring, and no reporting under the proposed system.
Adult Access
The rules would not stop adults from viewing adult content.
People over 18 would still be able to take, share, or view nude content after providing proof of age through an age verification process.
Company Response
Google said it is committed to protecting children online and is working with UK partners on privacy-focused safety measures.
Apple did not comment on the latest proposal. The company already offers tools that warn users when nudity is detected in images sent or received, but current protections do not block such content across all apps and services by default.
First Country Claim
Starmer said the plan would make Britain the first country in the world where children cannot take, share, or view naked pictures on their devices.
The government says the measure would place responsibility on technology companies to make smartphones and tablets safer for children, rather than leaving parents and children to deal with the risk on their own.
