Judge dismisses lawsuit against Apple over alleged child sexual abuse material on iCloud

By Ramishah Maruf, Clare Duffy, CNN

New York (CNN) — Apple avoided responsibility for the alleged circulation of child sexual abuse material on iCloud after a judge dismissed a lawsuit against the company on Tuesday. The onus should be on lawmakers to protect children instead, the judge said.

The proposed class action was filed by two individuals going by “Amy” and “Jessica.” It claimed that the tech giant failed to “stop or limit the spread” of child sexual abuse materials, also known as CSAM.

Apple fought back against the claims using Section 230, a law that holds online platforms can’t be held accountable for what their users post. The judge sided with that defense in a win for the company and the power of Section 230.

US District Judge Noël Wise in San Jose, California, said in her decision Tuesday that there is no existing law that requires companies to proactively identify and report CSAM. She said that it is up to lawmakers, not the court, “to fix this problem that is contributing to the exploitation of children,” despite possible privacy issues with such a law. The case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning that the plaintiffs cannot refile.

The plaintiffs are “reviewing Judge Wise’s ruling and evaluating our options,” Hillary Nappi, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said in an email.

“This decision only adds urgency to the pending legislative efforts to ensure technology companies can be held accountable for the harm caused by their design choices,” she added.

Apple has made privacy and security for users a hallmark of its brand, but the iPhone maker has for years also faced criticism that it could be doing more to prevent bad actors from operating on its systems.

In 2021, the company walked back a controversial plan to detect CSAM on iCloud. Though some child safety advocates supported the attempt, critics raised privacy concerns because the detection would happen directly on user devices.

The West Virginia attorney general also sued Apple this February, claiming it allowed CSAM to be stored and distributed on iCloud. That case is ongoing. (At the time, an Apple spokesperson said that “protecting the safety and privacy of our users, especially children, is central to what we do.”)

The ruling is a major win for a tech giant using Section 230 in a year that has tested the limits of the law’s liability shield.

Earlier this year, two cases sidestepped Section 230 to hold Meta and YouTube liable for harms against their users by focusing on the companies’ design choices. In one case, in New Mexico, Meta was ordered to pay $375 million in damages; in the other, in California, Meta and YouTube were ordered to pay a combined $6 million in damages.

Growing concerns around the risks of social media to young people have reignited a discussion on and around Capitol Hill about whether Section 230 should be reformed or repealed. Recent lawsuits have also shed light on what tech companies have known about those risks.

CNN has reached out to Apple for comment.

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