PM Keir Starmer asks tech firms like Apple and Google to install "device-level" features or face fresh laws
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has urged Big Tech to use device-level features to prevent kids from using mobiles to take, share or view nude images, warning new laws could be introduced if they fail to act.
In a speech on Monday, Starmer called on Apple and Google to introduce “device controls” – which could potentially include AI tools – to prevent children from sending and receiving sexually explicit images, warning of legal action if they did not commit to doing so within three months.
The Home Office said tech companies operating at the mobile device level must activate built-in features or implement technical solutions to block children from using mobiles or tablets to produce or view sexually explicit images, per a press statement emailed to Euractiv.
Operating systems such as Apple’s iOS and iPadOS and Google’s Android could be required to age-check users so that they can introduce measures for minors that would prevent self-generated child sexual images from being produced or shared, it suggested.
