"Are You a CEO Interested in a Feature Interview?"
All Interviews are 100% FREE of Charge
The company has been accused of under-reporting the prevalence of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on its platform: according to the UK child protection charity the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), Apple reported just 267 cases of suspected CSAM to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) worldwide last year.
This pales in comparison to the 1.47 million potential cases reported by Google and the 30.6 million reported by Meta.Other platforms that reported more potential CSAM cases than Apple in 2023 include TikTok (590,376), X (597,087), Snapchat (713,055), Xbox (1,537), and PlayStation/Sony Interactive Entertainment (3,974).All U.S.-based technology companies are required to pass on potential cases of CSAM detected on their platforms to the NCMEC, which directs the cases to relevant law enforcement agencies around the world.
The NSPCC also said that the number of CSAM incidents allegedly involving Apple in England and Wales between April 2022 and March 2023 (337 cases) was more than the charity reported globally in a single year. The charity collected its data from police forces using Freedom of Information requests.
As The NSPCC, which first reported on the allegations, noted that Apple’s services, including iMessage, FaceTime and iCloud, all use end-to-end encryption, preventing the company from viewing the content users share. But WhatsApp also has E2EE, and the service reported around 1.4 million cases of suspected CSAM to the NCMEC in 2023.
“There is a worrying discrepancy between the number of child abuse image crimes occurring on Apple’s services in the UK and the almost negligible number of global reports of abusive content it submits to authorities,” said Richard Collard, head of child safety online policy at the NSPCC. “Despite the fact that all tech companies should be investing in safety and preparing for the implementation of online safety legislation in the UK, Apple is clearly lagging behind its peers in tackling child sexual abuse.”
In 2021, Apple plans to roll out a system that will scan images before they’re uploaded to iCloud and compare them to databases of known CSAM images from NCMEC and other organizations. But following complaints from privacy and digital rights advocates, Apple will eventually phase out its CSAM detection tools.
Apple declined to comment on the NSPCC’s allegations, instead Parents This is a rebuttal to statements Apple made when it shelved its CSAM scanning plans, saying it had chosen a different strategy that “prioritizes the security and privacy of our users.” [its] The company August 2022: “Companies can protect children without scrutinizing personal data”