fbpx

Apple Launches Safety Feature That Blurs iMessage Nudity

Photo by Laurenz Heymann via Unsplash

Apple Launches Safety Feature That Blurs iMessage Nudity

By Movieguide® Staff

Apple recently announced a new feature that blurs nudity found in iMessages.

Months after its debut in the U.S. with iOS 15.2, Apple plans to integrate the new safety feature in the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.

The technology scans devices owned by young users for potentially sexually explicit images received or sent via iMessage.

Apple Insider reported:

How the feature works depends on whether a child receives or sends an image with nudity. Received images will be blurred, and the child will be provided with safety resources from child safety groups. Nudity in photos sent by younger users will trigger a warning advising that the image should not be sent.

The feature is privacy-focused and is available only on an opt-in basis. It must be enabled by parents. All detection of nudity is done on-device, meaning that any potentially sensitive images never leaves an iPhone.

One motivation could be due to an increase of child sex abuse material (CSAM) shared among younger users during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite privacy concerns from opposition to the safety feature, Apple notes that the CSAM scanning does not look at pre-existing data but matches new content with material provided by child safety organizations.

Movieguide® previously reported on the rise of CSAM over the COVID-19 pandemic:

A new report titled “Self-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Material: Youth Attitudes and Experiences in 2020,” found that the number of nude images shared amongst minors ages 9-12 doubled during the pandemic.

The share of minors ages 9-12 who are sharing self-generated nude images online more than doubled in 2020, and advocates involved in combatting online child sex abuse are worried about the trend, a new study shows.

“Self-generated child sexual abuse material has become a vital area of concern for those combating online child sexual exploitation. … [It] presents distinct risks for kids and unique challenges for the communities committed to protecting them,” researchers noted. “The interventions we pursue must be uniquely tailored to the experiences of young people and the offenders who may target them for victimization.”

While SG-CSAM encompasses coercive and consensual forms of sharing, Thorn and other child advocacy organizations such as Exodus Cry are worried about the trends.

“Young people continue to engage with SG-CSAM both through exploratory and higher risk coercive pathways. The findings from our 2020 survey underscore the persistence of demographic differences in kids’ attitudes and behaviors related to SG-CSAM,” Thorn said. “Continued data collection and analysis related to this topic, along with the impact of COVID, remains a vital need to deliver successful interventions that safeguard and support young people as they navigate their digital experiences.”

Apple’s concern over child safety is a promising step in the right direction and provides parents with another tool to teach and exercise media discernment.

“Our families, and especially our youth, are being corrupted and destroyed by the messages being sold in the mass media of entertainment. Even our churches have been unable to give their members, especially their youths, sufficient help in avoiding the negative impact of our entertainment culture. In fact, many churches are clueless about the extent of the problem in their congregations. Other churches have opted for an anything goes attitude. As a result, the children have suffered, and the parents agonize over to how to deal with the problem. They don’t want their children to abandon biblical morality and go off as teenagers or college students into the toxic lifestyles promoted in the media,” Movieguide® Founder and Publisher Dr. Ted Baehr writes in The Screen-Wise Family.

“As one friend noted when, after exploring media-wisdom with me, he came to faith in Jesus Christ, that ‘God gave me back my mind,’” Baehr continued. “God wants us to think clearly, and so He tells us in His word to develop discernment, get wisdom and acquire knowledge. These parenting articles will help you to do just that by giving you the media awareness and biblical discernment skills to overcome the powerful influences and artificial peer pressure of the mass media of entertainment.”

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.