Apple will also launch a scan for nude photos of children in Belgium | Interior

Apple will make the “communication security” feature available in six new countries, including Belgium and the Netherlands, independent Apple news site iCulture reports. This feature will give parents the option to install a nudity warning in their children’s Messages app.

Communication Safety is an optional feature within iMessage that will scan for nudity. When children want to send or receive a photo that contains a lot of nudity, they will receive a warning. Received photos that are spotted by the scan will then be automatically blurred out, but the child can still choose to view them anyway. Sending photos with a warning also remains possible. Apple calls the function private and secure, according to iCulture. The feature is self-configurable and runs entirely on the device itself, Apple has no access to the messages or photos.

The application can only be enabled on devices of minors that are controlled by the parents. When the scan is used, the children first receive an explanation of the potentially harmful consequences of sending nude photos.

Apple’s earlier controversial plan to scan photos in the iCloud library for child abuse was quickly swept aside after much criticism. However, a new bill from the European Union can change that, which wants tech companies to install a back door to scan child pornography, writes iCulture.

‘Communication security’ was already introduced at the end of 2021 in the United States, England and Germany, among others. Now additional countries are being added: Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, South Korea and Brazil.

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