The UK government is reportedly pushing ahead with plans to ask Apple and Google to block access to nude images on smartphones unless a user’s age has been verified. Ministers say the proposal is aimed at protecting children from explicit material, but the move is a dramatic shift as it could shift responsibility onto technology companies.
Information leaking out of London indicates the Home Office wants age checks built directly into iOS and Android, as well as direct blocks on taking and viewing nude images.
In this, they will have a surprising ally: porn websites.
UK wants iPhone to block explicit images without age verification
Surveys and statistics show that around 1 in 5 young people have received a sexual approach or solicitation online over the past year, and up to 44% of teens report being asked for inappropriate or explicit images by someone online. The UK government has a plan to address the problem.
“Ministers want the likes of Apple and Google to incorporate nudity-detection algorithms into their device operating systems to prevent users taking photos or sharing images of genitalia unless they are verified as adults,” the Financial Times reported on Monday.
And the UK plan goes beyond sharing or receiving images — it includes age checks being built into operating systems. iOS and Android would be asked to “prevent any nudity being displayed on screen unless the user has verified they are an adult through methods such as biometric checks or official ID,” according to FT.
The Home Office will reportedly announce the push in the coming days. Initially, the intent is to pressure Apple and Google to make the change, though it could become a legal requirement at some point. The proposals are the latest extension of the UK’s broader online safety agenda.
Porn sites also want age verification built into operating systems
There’s a broader move to build age verification into operating systems, and a notable proponent is porn websites.
Aylo, Pornhub’s parent company, sent letters to Apple, Google and Microsoft urging them to support device-based age verification, meaning age checks built into the hardware or operating system that could be shared with adult sites. They argue that current site-level checks are flawed and easily bypassed, and that a verification at the device level would be more robust.
Of course, they have a business-related interest. They are legally required in many areas to block access without age verification, but many of their potential customers instead go to sites without verification.
Apple already protects children from nudes
Apple is unlikely to build age verification into iPhone, Mac and iPad. Based on the company’s past habits, when the UK government urges it to do so, it’ll point out its existing parental controls.
At the center of those efforts is Communication Safety, an optional feature linked to Family Sharing and Screen Time. When enabled for a child’s account, the system uses on-device machine learning to detect nudity in images sent or received through Messages. If a potentially explicit image is identified, it is blurred automatically and the child is shown a warning explaining why the content may be sensitive, along with guidance on what to do next. Apple says the image analysis happens entirely on the device, meaning the company does not see the photos themselves.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 25 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh Classic II (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer. He’s written for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview, and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
