According to The Times, the British government is consulting on new legislation that would require tech companies such as Apple and Google to block minors from accessing nudity and pornographic content on mobile devices and social media. The scope covers the sending, receiving and viewing of images, as well as sex scenes in streaming films and TV. If platforms fail to effectively implement the measures, senior executives could face up to five years in prison, companies could be fined up to 10% of their global revenue, or be banned from operating in the UK.
The measures are based on the existing Online Safety Act and would further require embedding nudity detection algorithms at the operating system level, rather than relying solely on post-hoc content moderation. Apple and Google already offer image blurring and automatic nudity warning features, but the government considers these insufficient. The children’s protection charity NSPCC has expressed support for the legislation; civil liberties groups have raised concerns about the privacy risks of comprehensive age verification and device-level content scanning.