The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) has accused Apple of underreporting child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on its platforms, revealing a significant disparity between the number of suspected cases detected on the company’s services and the number of reports made to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).
According to the NSPCC, Apple reported only 267 suspected CSAM cases globally in 2023, whereas Google reported 1.47 million potential cases, and Meta reported 30.6 million. The charity also obtained data from police forces in England and Wales, showing that Apple’s services were implicated in 337 CSAM cases between April 2022 and March 2023, significantly higher than the company’s global reporting numbers.
The discrepancy in reporting may be attributed to the end-to-end encryption used on Apple’s services, including iMessage, FaceTime, and iCloud, which prevents the company from accessing user content. Despite this, WhatsApp, another service using similar encryption, reported nearly 1.4 million suspected CSAM cases to NCMEC in 2023.
“This raises concerns about the company’s efforts to combat child sexual abuse online and how it compares to other tech companies,” said Richard Collard, NSPCC’s head of child safety online policy.
The NSPCC’s claim stems from the fact that Apple declined to implement a system that would scan images on iCloud and compare them against a database of known CSAM images. The plan was criticized by privacy and digital rights advocates, prompting Apple to withdraw its proposal.
When reached for comment, Apple referred to its earlier statement on the CSAM detection tool, citing its prioritization of user security and privacy.
