The UK government on Wednesday teased new legislation that would legally require tech companies to prevent children from taking, viewing or sharing nude images on phones, accusing Apple and Google of falling short.
“The new measures would put legal requirements on technology companies to install stronger safeguards on all their devices,” Britain’s digital, culture and media department said in a statement.
In June, the government gave companies including Apple and Google three months to introduce safety features to block children from taking and accessing naked photos on phones and tablets.
“There has been progress, marking a start in our efforts to tackle online child sexual exploitation and abuse, however, they do not meet the scale of the government’s ambition,” the statement added.
The government said it would reassess the need for the legal requirements if the “companies implement solutions themselves”.
It previously said legislation would include fines for companies that fail to comply and possibly even criminal liability for tech bosses.
While it noted Apple had rolled out age verification requirements for UK users — the first company to activate safety features by default for under-18s — nudity detection was not yet applied to the camera, third-party messaging apps or search functions.
“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,” an Apple spokesperson said.
Google said it was an “industry leader in combating non-consensual intimate imagery”.
It is the latest in a slew of tech regulations touted by London, which announced plans to ban social media for under-16s this summer, as well as a voluntary midnight curfew feature for 16 to 18-year-olds.
“In June we asked the biggest technology companies in the world to do one simple thing: make it impossible for a child to take, send or see a naked picture. They have moved. But not far enough or fast enough,” said Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
“The protection will be built into the device and switched on by default. It will be for the companies to prove a user is an adult, not for a child to keep themselves out of harm’s way,” he added.
