West Virginia sues Apple over child sex abuse material stored on iCloud
3 days ago
- #Child Safety
- #Apple
- #iCloud
- West Virginia's attorney general sued Apple for allegedly allowing iCloud to distribute child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
- Apple is accused of not deploying tools to scan and detect CSAM in iCloud, prioritizing privacy over child safety.
- A 2020 internal Apple message revealed an executive calling Apple 'the greatest platform for distributing child porn.'
- Victims of child sexual exploitation sued Apple in 2024 for $1.2 billion in damages, with the case ongoing.
- The UK's NSPCC accused Apple of underreporting CSAM cases in its products, with police data showing higher numbers in England and Wales alone.
- Apple reports far fewer CSAM cases to NCMEC compared to Google or Meta.
- Apple considered scanning iCloud images but abandoned the plan due to privacy concerns and potential government misuse.
- Apple introduced NeuralHash in 2021 to detect CSAM but canceled it in 2022 after criticism and privacy concerns.
- Apple implemented Communication Safety to blur nudity in messages to/from children's devices but does not scan iCloud uploads.
- Apple made only 267 CSAM reports in 2023, compared to millions by Google and Meta.
- Apple is seeking dismissal of a related lawsuit, citing protections under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.