About two years ago, American Family Association decided to use our investment portfolio to promote pro-family proposals with some of America’s biggest publicly traded companies. In the past year alone, we have spoken to shareholders, board members, and executives of Schwab, Apple, John Deere, Intel, and Verizon.
Earlier this year, I wrote about the Apple corporation and the steps it should take to protect America’s children. Primarily, our focus was on Apple’s delayed rollout of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) scanning software. This software was originally going to be rolled out to all Apple iCloud accounts around 2021. The result would have allowed Apple and law enforcement to recognize better when evidence of child sexual abuse is being stored on Apple accounts. Our proposal over the last two years has been focused on uncovering the legal and company risks associated with the failure to deploy such software.
In part of our research into Apple’s policies, we uncovered that Apple’s Communication Safety is enabled by default on devices of children under age 13. For teens aged 14-17, these safety features were disabled by default. What does this mean? Children under 13 are protected from harmful content, including pornographic images, in their iMessage app, and children aged 14-17 are not protected from such content. When I learned this, I was baffled. Why would a company not have a universal safety standard that protects all children?
It immediately became clear to me that if Apple genuinely wanted to protect children on their devices, they would correct this flaw in their Communication Safety standard. In 2024, I emailed Apple’s investor relations team and corporate counsel with the simple request that they enable Communication Safety features by default on all minor accounts. I specifically stated in part, “The standard should be that ZERO minors have access to nude images or videos via iMessage without their parents’ knowledge. There’s no rational argument for minors accessing nude images or videos on their Apple device. If there is, please make the case.” This statement apparently stuck.
Fast-forward to today. We are pleased to announce that after a year of work and multiple meetings with Apple executives, the company has implemented two major changes to its policies that will ultimately protect millions of children from harmful content.
The first change relates to their app store collection. Previously, children could see, but not download, adult-rated apps displayed in sections like Today, Games, and Apps tabs. Now, children will no longer see these adult-rated app recommendations in any section of the app store. The second and most significant change is that Apple will no longer allow children ages 14-17 to view pornographic images in their iMessage app. Instead, Apple will apply the same Communication Safety standards across the board for all minor users.
I will admit, when we entered this fight against Apple, I lacked confidence that we could move the needle in any significant regard. Still, I knew it was the right thing to do. The one thing I had certainty about was that if we didn’t show up, we would certainly have no impact. Thus, we decided to show up.
Fast-forward to today. Through our efforts and God’s providence, we have convinced one of the world’s largest technology companies to do more to protect the innocence of children. I want to thank God for giving our team the courage to speak truth. I also want to thank AFA’s Chief Financial Officer, Walter Billingley, Bowyer Research Founder and President, Jerry Bowyer, and the attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom for their behind-the-scenes efforts to secure this major victory with Apple.
Notice: This column is printed with permission. Opinion pieces published by AFN.net are the sole responsibility of the article's author(s), or of the person(s) or organization(s) quoted therein, and do not necessarily represent those of the staff or management of, or advertisers who support the American Family News Network, AFN.net, our parent organization or its other affiliates.
