UK Lawmakers Push Apple, Google To Block Child Abuse Images On All Phones
A cross-party group of UK peers and MPs wants a law forcing Apple, Google and other tech firms to put software on every phone and tablet sold in Britain that automatically blocks child sexual abuse images, including ones made with AI.
Key Takeaways
- The plan would make devices blur abuse images and videos instantly and stop abuse from being livestreamed, with older devices covered by a mandatory software update
- Conservative peer John Nash is leading the push in the House of Lords and Labour MP Jess Phillips in the Commons
- The government already plans a law making Apple and Google stop children taking, sharing or viewing nude images
- AI-generated abuse videos found by the Internet Watch Foundation jumped more than 260-fold in 2025
What The Campaigners Want
The proposal, reported by The Observer on Sunday, would go further than anything the government has promised. Instead of protecting only children’s phones, the blocking software would run on all devices, so no one in the UK could view or create child sexual abuse material on them.
John Nash, the former education minister who led the successful push for a social media ban for under-16s, argues that if Apple and Google can block nude images on children’s phones, they can block abuse images on every phone. He plans to add the measure to the upcoming national security bill if ministers do not act first. Jess Phillips, who quit as safeguarding minister over the government’s slow progress on blocking nudity on children’s phones, is backing the plan in the Commons.
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Why AI Changed The Fight
The Internet Watch Foundation, the UK charity that finds and removes this material, confirmed 311,610 reports of child sexual abuse imagery in 2025, a 7% rise, according to its annual report. It also found 3,443 AI-generated abuse videos, more than 260 times as many as a year earlier.
The charity backs on-device protection. “On-device protections are a preventative remedy. It’s an opportunity which must be seized,” IWF director of communications Emma Hardy said on Friday.
Where The Government Stands
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy told Parliament on Sept. 8 that the government will bring in a law requiring big tech platforms to build safeguards into devices used by children, after tech firms had “failed to protect children from some of the worst harms.” She said Apple and Google had already made “significant commitments,” and that ministers could rethink the law if the companies deliver working fixes first.
That plan only covers children. The campaigners want the same technology switched on for every adult device, which would be a far bigger change for Apple, Google and anyone who owns a phone.
What To Watch Next
A paper from experts including Interpol, the IWF and the Australian Institute of Criminology, due this week, will argue for using AI tools on devices to spot and stop abuse before images are viewed or shared. The bigger question is whether ministers take up the all-device plan or leave Nash to force it through the Lords, where he won the vote on a social media ban for under-16s.
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