UK Prime Minister Announces Mandatory Device Controls to Block Nude Images on Children’s Phones

The Prime Minister has announced new legislation that will require phone and tablet manufacturers to introduce device‑level controls preventing children from taking, sharing or viewing nude images. The government says the move is designed to curb the rapid rise in online grooming, sexual extortion and the circulation of self‑generated indecent images involving minors.

Under the proposal, technology companies will be legally obliged to build safety features directly into devices used by under‑18s. These controls would automatically block attempts to create or access nude imagery, with the aim of stopping abuse “before it starts”. Ministers argue that platform‑level protections alone are no longer sufficient, given the scale of harm occurring across social media, messaging apps and gaming platforms.

The announcement follows growing concern among law‑enforcement agencies about the speed at which offenders are able to contact children online, coerce them into producing sexual images, and then use those images for blackmail or repeated exploitation.

NCA Welcomes the Measures

The National Crime Agency (NCA) has publicly backed the Prime Minister’s plan, describing device‑level restrictions as a significant step in preventing some of the most serious forms of online child sexual abuse.

In a statement, the agency said it “fully supports any measures that make the online world safer for children”, adding that device controls have the potential to stop harmful content from being created or shared in the first place. According to the NCA, this is particularly important in cases involving grooming, financially motivated sexual extortion and self‑generated indecent imagery, where abuse often escalates rapidly once an image exists.

The agency warned that online platforms currently contain features that offenders exploit “at scale” to identify and contact children. While restricting those high‑risk features remains essential, the NCA said device‑level protections target a different and equally critical stage of the offending process.

NCA Director General Graeme Biggar said:

“Every day NCA officers and policing colleagues investigate horrific cases that prove the online environment as it stands is unsafe for children. Many of the most serious cases begin with offenders coercing children into creating and sharing sexual images of themselves. Once those images exist, they can be used for blackmail, humiliation and repeated exploitation.

Preventing children from taking, sharing or receiving nude images can stop abuse before it starts and so would be an important step forward.”

Biggar added that the measure is one of six changes the NCA has called for, alongside effective age assurance, the removal of high‑risk platform features, and action to stop algorithms from promoting harmful or illegal content.

The agency said it is “entirely right” for the government to intervene with legislation if technology companies fail to act quickly enough, stressing that the safety of children must remain the overriding priority.