New law to force tech firms to stop children taking or sharing nude images

The government has said it will introduce a new law to force tech firms to prevent children from taking or sharing nude images on mobile devices.

Apple and Google, which develop the operating systems of most smartphones used in the UK, were given three months in June to block access to nude images on smartphones and other devices used by under-18s.

But culture secretary Lisa Nandy MP told MPs on Tuesday that despite "significant commitments" from both companies, current proposals "do not meet the scale of this crisis".

She said ministers would look to legislate "as soon as they can" - with the caveat it may reassess these if firms develop and implement solutions sooner.

Alongside making tech firms block nudity on devices used by children at device-level, the government said its draft legislation would also make providers of apps used by children introduce similar blocks on nude imagery.

"This will ensure that the whole ecosystem changes, tackling the means by which children are most often abused or groomed in the online world," Nandy said.

She told MPs that Apple and Google had already made "meaningful changes" to block nudity on smartphones used by children at the core of their systems, but more action was needed.

An Apple spokesperson said it launched its Communication Safety feature in 2021 to help stop children from seeing or sharing imagery containing nudity - and had since "continued to expand its capabilities".