Jess Phillips, the former safeguarding minister, has stated that a law preventing children from taking naked pictures on smartphones could largely end online child sexual abuse in the UK and worldwide if widely adopted. Speaking to the World at One, Phillips expressed confidence that Google and Apple, which control the operating systems on nearly all smartphones, could quickly install software to block such images.
Tech Companies Accused of Foot-Dragging
Phillips noted that after working on this issue for about 18 months, she had heard 'every single corner-cutting excuse, work-around in the book from tech companies and those who seek to represent them.' She expects further delays and expressed a desire to contribute to drafting legislation to force action if voluntary measures fail.
Transformational Potential
Phillips stated she would only believe the ban is happening when 'a child picks up their phone, tries to take a naked image of themselves because they’ve been groomed to do it, and they won’t be able to do it.' She described the potential impact as transformational, citing figures that 91% of online child sexual abuse reports involve self-generated content. Under this plan, she expects abuse rates to 'plummet.'
Phillips explained: 'We have the opportunity here in a matter of months to basically eliminate child sexual abuse [online] in the UK. And what is more is that, I cannot see a way that if we do this – when we do this, I should say – in the UK that phone manufacturers and countries around the world are going to say, “I’ll tell you what, we’ll import the phones that are good for paedophiles.” So I don’t think we’ll just get rid of 91% of child abuse. I think we have the potential in what we’re going to do – and this is what I fought so hard for it – to end online child sex abuse, to cut child sex abuse around the world so dramatically.'
