Apple just got a $32.8B lawsuit dismissed in US
What's the story
A US judge has dismissed a class action lawsuit against Apple, alleging its failure to prevent the distribution of child sexual abuse material on its iCloud data storage service. The ruling was made by US District Judge Noel Wise in San Jose, California. He agreed with Apple's defense that the company is protected from such claims under federal law shielding online services from liability for user-generated content.
Legal perspective
Claims placed under Section 230 of Communications Decency Act
Judge Wise clarified that the lawsuit tried to hold Apple accountable for not removing or blocking user-generated content.
He placed these claims under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a 1996 federal law.
The plaintiffs were suing on behalf of a group of 2,680 people with similar allegations and estimated compensatory damages could go as high as $32.8 billion.
Technology responsibility
'Lawmakers can fix this problem...'
Judge Wise emphasized that nothing in federal law mandates Apple to use existing or create new technology to detect and report child sexual abuse material on its cloud service.
He said, "Lawmakers can fix this problem that is contributing to the exploitation of children. This Court cannot."
The case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can't be refiled.
Potential appeal
Plaintiffs weighing appeal, other legal options
The plaintiffs, who go by the pseudonyms Amy and Jessica, are now weighing an appeal and other possible legal claims.
Their attorney James Marsh said while they disagree with the judge's interpretation of law, "we agree with her conclusion that Congress should do more to protect children online and address the skyrocketing harms from online exploitation."
Case specifics
Amy and Jessica had sued Apple in 2024
Amy and Jessica had sued Apple in 2024, alleging that images of their abuse as children were still being stored and shared on iCloud.
The lawsuit claimed Apple was aware of the issue but refused to use readily available technology to detect it.
In 2021, Apple had announced a program called NeuralHash for detecting child sex abuse material but later scrapped it.