Apple Requires Developers to Remove Non-Consensual Sexual Images — The Verge

Apple has updated its App Store rules, requiring developers to proactively prevent the appearance of and remove sexual images created without the consent of the people depicted. The company also more clearly prohibited apps that can add features after approval to create images of nude people using artificial intelligence. The Verge reports.

Requirements for developers

Under the new rules, developers must implement appropriate safeguards against the distribution of non-consensual sexual images. An app may be removed from the App Store if its developer fails to provide sufficient safeguards or remedy violations after receiving notice from Apple.

The company also clarified its rule against so-called bait-and-switch apps. It applies to services that add or change features after passing review, including by introducing tools to create images of nude people.

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Previous criticism and restrictions

The changes followed criticism of Apple over X users' use of the Grok tool to create sexualized deepfakes without people's consent, including of minors. Apple did not remove X or Grok from the App Store, but told senators that it had threatened to remove Grok from the store.

In June, during Apple's WWDC conference, protesters called on the company to remove Grok, X, and all technologies for creating such images from the App Store. In July, the San Francisco city attorney ordered Apple to remove 13 such apps, and the company said it had complied with the requirement.

The updated rules also explicitly provide for the removal from the App Store and blocking of alternative distribution of apps that facilitate human trafficking or child exploitation.