UK Commits to Device-Level Child Protections With Adult Age Checks

The UK government will introduce legislation requiring major technology platforms to build child-safety protections into smartphones and tablets, including age checks for adults who want to disable restrictions on nude imagery.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told Parliament that the planned rules are intended to prevent children from taking, receiving, sharing or viewing nude images on their devices. The commitment follows a three-month government work program with Apple and Google that examined operating-system controls aimed at reducing child sexual abuse and sextortion.

Both companies have proposed changes that would block, rather than merely blur, nude content on devices identified as belonging to minors. Nandy said those commitments represented progress but did not provide the comprehensive protection the government is seeking, prompting the decision to pursue primary legislation.

The proposed model places the control at the device or operating-system level instead of requiring every app to perform the same check independently. An adult would be able to turn off the protection after completing age verification, while child accounts or devices would have the safeguards enabled by default.

Apple has already introduced operating-system age signals tied to communication-safety features, and Google has developed related controls for Android. The UK plan would turn the government’s policy objective into a legal requirement for major platforms.

Operating systems are becoming a central point in age-assurance policy. Microsoft recently detailed a Windows feature that can share an age bracket with an app instead of a birth date, reducing the personal information exchanged during an age check.

The UK commitment also forms part of a wider European push to restrict children’s access to online services and harmful content. France has pursued national age limits for social media, while President Emmanuel Macron has called for an EU-wide under-15 social media ban after a French court struck down the country’s domestic measure.

Nandy said the government will continue working with Apple, Google and child-safety organizations while preparing the bill. The announced policy covers the creation, receipt, sharing and viewing of nude imagery, making age assurance part of a broader device-level content-control system.

Sources: UK Government, The Guardian

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By the ID Tech Editorial Team