Apple's cloud services are at the center of a child pornography scandal

A 27-year-old woman from the United States has filed a class action lawsuit against Apple, accusing the company of inaction regarding child sexual abuse material stored in iCloud.

The New York Tumes writes about it.

The lawsuit seeks compensation for potential victims in the total amount of more than $1.2 billion.

Why Apple is accused of spreading CSAM?

An anonymous woman is accusing Apple of improperly responding to the distribution of her childhood photos stored on iCloud servers. The abuse began when she was a baby: a relative took photos of her and shared them online. According to lawyers, Apple had technical tools to detect such materials, but the company did not fully implement them, citing user privacy concerns.

What is the goal of the lawsuit against child pornography

The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Northern California, its goal — to force Apple to change its practices in processing such content and pay compensation to victims. According to US law, victims are entitled to compensation of at least $150,000. for each case.

What Apple is doing to combat CSAM

Apple has previously said it was implementing tools to detect illegal content, but the company has been criticized for its low reporting rate compared to other tech giants like Google and Facebook. In 2021, Apple introduced a tool to scan for child sexual abuse material, but quickly abandoned it due to criticism from cybersecurity experts.

Apple spokesman Fred Sainz said the company is actively fighting the spread of sexual abuse material, introducing new features, including warnings about dangerous content in the Messages app. However, the plaintiff's lawyers insist that this is not enough and are calling on Apple to take responsibility for the damage caused by its inaction.