U.K. Sets Three‑Month Deadline for Apple, Google to Enable Device Protections for Children

The U.K. government has given Apple, Google and other tech companies three months to switch on device-level protections designed to stop children from taking, sharing or viewing nude images on smartphones and tablets, and said it will legislate if they do not. The move, announced Monday, is a government proposal and ultimatum rather than a law already in force.

Under the plan, companies would be expected to activate built-in safety features or add technical tools on devices used by children in the U.K. to detect and block nude images. Adults would still be able to access adult content after going through an age-verification process. The government said the protections should apply to U.K. devices already in use as well as newly sold smartphones and tablets, and should work across apps and services.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the proposal in a speech at London Tech Week, alongside a Home Office policy release published Sunday on GOV.UK under the title “New plans to stop children taking, sharing or viewing nude images.” In the release, Starmer said: “When it comes to the safety of our children, standing by is not an option. Nobody gets a free pass. That is why I’m making sure Britain is the first country in the world to make it impossible for children to take, share or view nude images.”

The government said companies have three months to act voluntarily. If they do not, it said it will bring forward legislation to compel them to activate the technology. In the Home Office release, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said: “Companies should switch these protections on by default, for every child, on every device. We are giving them 3 months to show us that they will do the right thing.” The release added: “If companies do not act within 3 months, the government will bring forward legislation to force them to activate the technology. This will include fines for companies. Nothing is off the table, and as a last resort we are exploring criminal liability for tech bosses who fail to comply.”

Ministers framed the proposal as a response to the scale of child sexual abuse material involving images children create of themselves. The government said that 91% of online child sexual abuse reports recorded in 2024 contained self-generated content. It also cited a figure that the average child now views pornography by age 13. Those figures were presented in the government release as justification for expanding protections beyond existing online rules.

The plan would push U.K. policy beyond the Online Safety Act 2023, which imposed duties on online platforms and introduced age-assurance requirements but focused primarily on services rather than the operating systems and devices themselves. Device-level age checks are not entirely new in Britain: the government noted that Apple recently introduced age checks for iPhone users in the U.K., after a rollout that began in March. But it said nudity detection is not currently applied across camera functions, third-party messaging or search, highlighting the gap ministers now want companies to close.

The government said its aim is to block harmful content across apps and services without collecting data or threatening privacy, though that claim is likely to face scrutiny. Privacy and civil-liberties concerns have surfaced before around on-device scanning proposals, including Apple’s abandoned 2021 plan to scan users’ photos for child sexual abuse material on their devices. Child-safety groups including the NSPCC, the Internet Watch Foundation and Barnardo’s backed Monday’s proposal, according to the government release.