United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer has given Apple and Google until September to introduce software that blocks explicit images on children’s mobile devices or face legislation compelling them to do so.

Under the proposal, technology companies would be required to enable nudity-detection systems or similar safeguards on smartphones and tablets to prevent users from taking, sending, or sharing images of genitalia unless they have been verified as adults.

Starmer said that if the companies fail to implement the measures within three months, the government will introduce legislation mandating the protections on all phones and tablets sold in the UK.

Non-compliant firms could face financial penalties, while senior executives may also be held criminally liable.

The move follows the resignation of former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips last month. Phillips said she stepped down because the government had not acted decisively enough to stop children in the UK from creating and sharing explicit images of themselves.

Some Labour lawmakers have also urged the prime minister to move beyond voluntary compliance, calling on the government to legislate immediately rather than continue seeking commitments from technology firms.

“Today, I am calling on tech companies operating in this country to introduce vice controls that prevent children from sending and receiving sexually explicit images. Because this is not an impossible challenge,” he said.

“If they choose not, then we will act and we will change the law.”

The proposed measures come amid a sharp rise in child sexual abuse cases in the UK.

The National Crime Agency now receives about 1,700 child sexual abuse referrals each week.

According to government figures, nine out of every 10 child abuse images recorded last year were self-generated by children, many of whom had been manipulated, coerced, or blackmailed by offenders they encountered online.

Cases of online grooming have also climbed to around 7,000 annually, with authorities warning that organized criminal networks and some online platforms are benefiting from the circulation and trade of abusive content.

The Home Office said the new safeguards are designed to prevent sexual predators from exploiting children through digital devices while also restricting minors’ access to pornography.

Adults, however, would still be able to create, share, and view nude content after completing age-verification checks.