Woman Sues Apple Over Failure In Curtailing Child Sexual Abuse Material, iPhone Maker Might Have To Pay $1.2 Billion

The lawsuit is aimed at compelling Apple to revise its policies and offer compensation to around 2,680 victims.

A woman has filed a lawsuit against Apple accusing the company of failing to fulfill its promise of protecting child sexual abuse victims like her. The lawsuit aims to compel Apple to revise its policies and offer compensation to a potential group of 2,680 victims. James Marsh, one of the lawyers representing the woman, clarified that under federal law, each victim is entitled to a minimum of $150,000 in damages.

With the standard practice of tripling damages, the total amount could exceed $1.2 billion if Apple is held responsible.

What Went Down

The woman, now 27 years old, became a victim of child sexual abuse when she was just an infant. A relative molested her, took explicit photographs, and exchanged these images online. Over time, he introduced another individual to her, escalating the abuse. The woman now faces constant reminders of her traumatic past through law enforcement notices informing her when someone is charged with possessing those images. One such notice from late 2021 revealed the images had been found on a man’s MacBook in Vermont and confirmed they were stored on Apple’s iCloud.

This notification arrived months after Apple had announced a controversial tool designed to scan for illegal content, such as child sexual abuse material. However, the company shelved the feature after receiving backlash from cybersecurity experts who warned it could be exploited for broader surveillance by governments.

The woman, using a pseudonym to protect her identity, has now filed a lawsuit against Apple, alleging the company failed to fulfill its promise to protect victims like her. According to the lawsuit, Apple neglected to use the tools it had developed to identify, report, and remove such images, enabling the material to persist. This inaction, the lawsuit claims, forces survivors to relive the trauma of their abuse.

Filed in US District Court in Northern California, the suit argues that Apple’s inaction amounts to selling defective products that harm a specific group of customers—victims of child sexual abuse. The complaint notes that Apple initially introduced an enhanced safety feature aimed at safeguarding children but ultimately failed to implement or substitute it with effective measures to detect and prevent the distribution of such material.

Apple spokesperson Fred Sainz, responding to the allegations, highlighted the company's existing safety measures aimed at curbing the circulation of newly created illegal content, though he did not directly address the claims in the lawsuit.