The UK government will introduce legislation requiring Apple and Google to build “device-level protections” that prevent children from taking, sharing, or viewing nude images on their devices, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy announced to Parliament on September 8.
Nandy acknowledged that both firms have made “meaningful changes” since a June deadline for voluntary compliance, but concluded those measures “do not meet the scale of this crisis.” The government plans to bring legislation to Parliament “as soon as we can,” though no precise timetable was given.
What Apple Currently Offers
Apple’s Communication Safety feature, introduced in 2021, detects nude photos and videos in Messages, AirDrop, and FaceTime, and now extends to third-party apps. The tool blurs nudity when detected in shared images or videos. Communication Safety is enabled by default for children under 13 who are part of a Family Sharing group and is turned on by default for all users under 18.
The feature enforces different rules by age: teenagers can still view flagged images after dismissing an alert, while children under 13 must enter a passcode to proceed. Apple does not currently offer system-wide nudity blocking that extends uniformly across all third-party apps like WhatsApp, leaving gaps the UK government views as inadequate.
Why Voluntary Compliance Failed to Satisfy Regulators
In June 2026, tech companies received a three-month deadline to voluntarily implement stronger child safety measures. Apple responded with additional features including a simplified Screen Time setup, Ask to Browse controls, and Time Allowances, updates arriving in iOS, iPadOS, and macOS this fall.
As reported by Bloomberg, Nandy’s parliamentary statement made clear these steps were insufficient:
We will explore what legislation is needed to implement this commitment, with a view to moving as quickly as possible. This will ensure that the whole system changes, tackling the means by which children are most often abused or groomed in the online world.
Apple’s Response and Next Steps
Apple told Bloomberg it shares “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.” The company did not specify what those plans entail or when they might arrive.
The vague language around both Apple’s intentions and the government’s timeline, “as soon as we can”, leaves open whether Apple will voluntarily implement system-wide device-level protections before legislation becomes law, or whether the company will wait for statutory requirements to define the technical scope. What remains unresolved is how system-level content detection interacts with Apple’s existing privacy model and whether device-level nudity blocking can coexist with end-to-end encryption.
