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UK peers, MPs push mandatory child-abuse image blocking on phones
The Observer reports a cross-party campaign would require tech firms to install software on UK phones and tablets that blocks viewing or creating child sexual abuse material.
- The Observer is now reporting this
- New headline Was: “UK House of Lords to propose mandatory CSAM detection software on smartphones”
- Our desk filed its story
- observer.co.uk is now reporting this
A cross-party group of UK peers and MPs plans to press Parliament to require technology companies to install software on all smartphones and tablets sold in Britain that would stop users viewing or creating child sexual abuse material, The Observer reported Sunday1.
The newspaper said the software would instantly blur images and videos of child sexual abuse, including AI-generated material, and would make livestreaming of abuse impossible; older devices could be covered by a mandatory software update1. Conservative peer and former education minister John Nash is leading the effort in the House of Lords, with former Labour safeguarding minister Jess Phillips leading it in the Commons, according to the report1.
The government has already promised legislation to force Apple and Google to prevent children from taking or sharing nude images on devices, The Observer said1. Culture secretary Lisa Nandy said in September that tech companies had failed to protect children from some of the worst harms, according to the paper1. Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said such protections would be built into the device and switched on by default1.
Nash said Britain was among the biggest consumers of child sexual abuse material and should act1. "If it can be done for children's phones on these images, it can be done for child sexual abuse images on all phones," he told The Observer1. If ministers do not legislate, he said he would introduce an amendment, probably to a forthcoming national security bill1.
Phillips said software already exists to blur or block inappropriate images and that she wanted the government to consider applying child-phone technology more broadly1. She said she did not want people in the UK abusing children overseas1. Former Norfolk chief constable Simon Bailey, once the National Police Chiefs' Council lead on child protection, told the paper that technology exists to identify child sexual abuse material with a degree of confidence1.
The Observer said the Internet Watch Foundation removed more than 312,000 online child sexual abuse images last year, a 7% increase on 2024, and found 3,440 AI-generated videos of child sexual abuse, compared with 13 in 20241. A paper due this week from technology, law enforcement and child-protection experts, including Interpol's Mark Bevan and IWF chief technology officer Dan Sexton, proposes using AI tools to identify and disrupt suspected abuse on devices before images are viewed or shared, the paper reported1.
An Observer poll found 80% supported installing the blocking technology on their smartphone or tablet after a short description, with 5% opposed, and only 6% very confident that tech companies are doing enough to detect and remove such material1. A government spokesman said ministers were preparing legislation to make it impossible for children to take, share or view nude images and would give police powers to keep pace with criminal use of emerging technologies1.
