Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Jun 24, 2025

Apple walks back plans for new child safety tools after privacy backlash

Apple walks back plans for new child safety tools after privacy backlash

Apple made headlines - and not the good kind - last month when it announced a test of a new tool aimed at combating child exploitation. Critics quickly decried the feature's potential privacy implications, and now Apple is taking a long pit stop before moving forward with its plans.
On Friday, the company said it will pause testing the tool in order to gather more feedback and make improvements.

The plan centers on a new system that will, if it is eventually launched, check iOS devices and iCloud photos for child abuse imagery. It includes a new opt-in feature that would warn minors and their parents of sexually explicit incoming or sent image attachments in iMessage and blur them.

Apple's announcement last month that it would begin testing the tool fit with a recent increased focus on protecting children among tech companies — but it was light on specific details and was swiftly met with outraged tweets, critical headlines and calls for more information.

So on Friday, Apple (AAPL) said it would put the brakes on implementing the features.

"Last month we announced plans for features intended to help protect children from predators who use communication tools to recruit and exploit them, and limit the spread of Child Sexual Abuse Material," the company said. "Based on feedback from customers, advocacy groups, researchers and others, we have decided to take additional time over the coming months to collect input and make improvements before releasing these critically important child safety features."

In a series of press calls aiming to explain the planned tool last month, Apple stressed that consumers' privacy would be protected because the tool would turn photos on iPhones and iPads into unreadable hashes, or complex numbers, stored on user devices. Those numbers would be matched against a database of hashes provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) once the pictures were uploaded to Apple's iCloud storage service. (Apple later said other organizations would be involved in addition to NCMEC.)

Only after a certain number of hashes matched the NCMEC's photos, Apple's review team would be alerted so that it could decrypt the information, disable the user's account and alert NCMEC, which could inform law enforcement about the existence of potentially abusive images.

Many child safety and security experts praised the intent of the plan, recognizing the ethical responsibilities and obligations a company has over the products and services it creates. But they also said the efforts presented potential privacy concerns.

"When people hear that Apple is 'searching' for child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) on end user phones they immediately jump to thoughts of Big Brother and '1984,'" Ryan O'Leary, research manager of privacy and legal technology at market research firm IDC, told CNN Business last month. "This is a very nuanced issue and one that on its face can seem quite scary or intrusive."

Critics of the plan applauded Apple's decision to pause the test.

Digital rights group Fight for the Future called the tool a threat to "privacy, security, democracy, and freedom," and called on Apple to shelve it permanently.

"Apple's plan to conduct on-device scanning of photos and messages is one of the most dangerous proposals from any tech company in modern history," Fight for the Future Director Evan Greer said in a statement. "Technologically, this is the equivalent of installing malware on millions of people's devices — malware that can be easily abused to do enormous harm."
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
“You Have 12 Hours to Flee”: Israeli Threat Campaign Targets Surviving Iranian Officials
Macron and Merz: Europe must arm itself in an unstable world
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Airlines Evaluate Flight Cancellations Amid Escalating US-Iran Tensions
Starmer Invites Innovators to Join Government Talent Scheme
UK Economy’s Strong Opening Quarter Shows Signs of Cooling
Harrods Seeks Court Order to Secure Al Fayed Estate for Victims
BA and Singapore Airlines Cancel Dubai Flights Amid Middle East Tensions
Trump Faces Backlash from MAGA Base Over Iran Strikes
Meta Bets $14 B on Alexandr Wang to Drive AI Ambitions
WATCH: Israeli forces show the aftermath of a massive airstrike at Iran's Isfahan nuclear site
FedEx Founder Fred Smith, ‘Heart and Soul’ of the Company, Dies at 80
Chinese Factories Shift Away from U.S. Amid Trump‑Era Tariffs
Pimco Seizes Opportunity in Japan’s Dislocated Bond Market
Labubu Doll Drives Pop Mart to Status as China’s Most Valuable Toy Maker
Global Coal Demand Defies Paris Accord Goals
We have new information and breaking details to share about what is shaping up to be a historic air campaign tonight
Six Massive Bombs Dropped on Fordow; Trump: 'A Historic Moment for the U.S., Israel, and the World'
Fordow: Deeply Buried Iranian Enrichment Site in U.S.–Israel Crosshairs
United States Conducts Precision Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
US strikes Iran nuclear sites, Trump says
Pakistan to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize.
BBC Demands Perplexity AI Immediately Stop Using Its Content
Telegram Founder: I Will Leave My Fortune to Over 100 of My Children
Political Turmoil Resurfaces in Belgium Amid Economic Concerns
Fed policymakers divided on timing of interest rate cuts
Trump signals imminent agreement with Harvard University
Inheritance tax referendum alarms Swiss billionaire community
Japan cancels bilateral security meeting amid US defence demands
AI skeptic Emily Bender warns that ‘the emperor has no clothes’
Israel Confirms Assassination of Quds Force Commander in Tehran
16 Billion Login Credentials Leaked in Unprecedented Cybersecurity Breach
Senate hearing on who was 'really running' Biden White House kicks off
Iranian Military Officers Reportedly Seek Contact with Reza Pahlavi, Signal Intent to Defect
FBI and Senate Investigate Allegations of Chinese Plot to Influence the 2020 Election in Biden’s Favor Using Fake U.S. Driver’s Licenses
Vietnam Emerges as Luxury Yacht Destination for Ultra‑Rich
Plans to Sell Dutch Embassy in Bangkok Face Local Opposition
China's Iranian Oil Imports Face Disruption Amid Escalating Middle East Tensions
Trump's $5 Million 'Trump Card' Visa Program Draws Nearly 70,000 Applicants
DGCA Finds No Major Safety Concerns in Air India's Boeing 787 Fleet
Airlines Reroute Flights Amid Expanding Middle East Conflict Zones
Elon Musk's xAI Seeks $9.3 Billion in Funding Amid AI Expansion
Trump Demands Iran's Unconditional Surrender Amid Escalating Conflict
Israeli Airstrike Targets Iranian State TV in Central Tehran
President Trump is leaving the G7 summit early and has ordered the National Security Council to the Situation Room
Taiwan Imposes Export Ban on Chips to Huawei and SMIC
Israel has just announced plans to strike Tehran again, and in response, Trump has urged people to evacuate
Netanyahu Signals Potential Regime Change in Iran
Juncker Criticizes EU Inaction on Trump Tariffs
EU Proposes Ban on New Russian Gas Contracts
×