Keir Starmer Warns Apple And Google To Block Explicit Images On Children’s Devices Or Face New UK Laws

Keir Starmer just drew a line in the sand for tech giants like Apple and Google: they have until September to put software on kids’ phones that blocks explicit images. If they don’t, he says, the government will force them to do it through new laws. Starmer wants these companies to turn on nudity-detection tools or find other ways to stop anyone underage from taking or sharing sexual images, unless they can prove they’re adults. That means making sure every phone and tablet sold in the UK comes with these protections built in. This move follows Jess Phillips’s resignation as safeguarding minister last month. She left, saying Starmer wasn’t doing enough to stop kids from sending or taking nude pictures. Now, he’s pushing tech firms to act, or face the law.

Keir Starmer Warns Apple and Google

The move would make the UK the first country to ban children from taking, sharing or viewing nude photos, Starmer said on Monday during a speech at London Tech Week.

“For too long, people have been told that [children sharing explicit images] is simply the price of modern tech – that nothing could be done. That government can do nothing. That it is a fact that parents simply must take. I can’t agree with that as tech should fit in with society, not society with tech. The Internet is an excellent tool for enhancing opportunities, and we should not be complacent about it unless we are equally serious in preventing the ones who wish to take advantage of it – the online predators.

Starmer’s Online Safety Crackdown Targets Explicit Images on Children’s phones

“That is why today, I am calling on tech companies operating in this country to introduce vice controls that prevent children from sending and receiving sexually explicit images. 

“If they don’t, then we will do something about it, and we will change the law,” he said. Sexual predators will be prevented from being able to exploit and abuse victims through their devices, and children stopped from being able to access pornography, the Home Office said. Adults will still be able to take, share or view nude content via an age verification process.

UK Tech Regulation Set for Major Shift

However, Chris Sherwood, CEO of the NSPCC, said that his organisation fully backs the decision, stressing: “The time is now up for big tech.” “Now the government must concentrate on ensuring that this game-changing difference in protecting young people happens rapidly,” he said. Labour MP Jess Phillips quit her role as the safeguarding minister at the Home Office, blaming Sir Keir for failing to introduce a bill against kids taking their own naked pictures despite having the appropriate technology.

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