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Apple has built its brand on privacy, trust, and innovation. But when it comes to protecting children, has the company done enough?
In this episode of The Heat Is On, hosts Nicki Petrossi and Sarah Gardner examine Apple's long and controversial history with child safety. While Apple recently announced new parental controls and family safety features at WWDC 2026, critics say the company continues to ignore one of the most urgent child protection issues on its platform: the presence of known child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in iCloud.
Sarah shares her decade-long experience pushing Apple to address the problem, including behind-the-scenes conversations with the company, Apple's abandoned 2021 CSAM detection initiative, and the ongoing debate between privacy and child protection. The discussion also explores Apple's role in hosting AI nudify apps, concerns about App Store safety, and the direct-action campaigns that have brought survivors, advocates, and national media attention to Apple's doorstep.
Sign the petition asking Apple to detect, report and remove child sexual abuse material.
The hosts break down Apple's latest child safety announcements, what they could mean for families, and why advocates say parents should wait for independent testing before assuming the new protections will work as promised.
If one of the world's most powerful technology companies can't find a way to protect both privacy and children, what does that mean for the rest of the tech industry?
In this episode:
- Apple's history of refusing to detect known CSAM in iCloud
- Why child safety advocates supported Apple's abandoned 2021 detection plan
- The scale of online child sexual abuse material and its impact on survivors
- Apple's App Store, AI nudify apps, and deepfake child exploitation concerns
- The direct-action campaigns pressuring Apple to change
- A breakdown of Apple's newly announced parental controls and safety features
- What parents should know before trusting Big Tech's safety promises
The Heat is On is a Scrolling 2 Death production in partnership with Heat Initiative.
Editing provided by Jacob Meade.
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