LONDON: Tech giants must stop children in Britain from being able to send and receive nude images on their devices, or be forced to do so by law, the government said on Monday.
Britain´s interior ministry said it was giving companies including Apple and Google three months to introduce safety features to block children from taking and accessing naked photos on phones and tablets.
If they do not, the government will introduce legislation to “force them to activate the technology”, the Home Office said in a statement. “This is not an impossible challenge,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer told delegates at the London Tech Week conference.
“These are some of the most innovative companies in the world and I believe they can solve it, but if they choose not to, then we will act and we will change the law, because when it comes to the safety of our children, standing by is not an option,” he added.
The Labour government said technology companies had a “moral responsibility” to “protect children from coercion, abuse and sextortion”. It said any future legislation would include fines for companies that fail to comply and possibly even criminal liability for tech bosses. A law change would stop children from being able to access pornography, while also making it more difficult for child abusers to target children, it said.
