Epic Games and WhatsApp team up against Apple's child safety tool citing privacy issues

Apple has recently released its new child protection tools but it has received some mixed reviews from privacy advocates. This is mostly because the feature will not only scan photos on an iPhone but also get access to the encrypted messages for sexually explicit content as a child safety measure. The main aim of releasing this feature is to stop the spread of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online. But the Industry-leading companies like WhatsApp and Epic Games have raised concerns about the release of this feature. WhatsApp head at Facebook, Will Cathcart, and Epic Games founder, Tim Sweeney recently questioned the capability of this scanning software running on the phone to be completely error-proof. This is important because the hackers will be able to get access to the user’s data with this new Apple child safety tool. 

Epic Games and WhatsApp post against new Apple child safety tool

 Epic Games chief executive and founder, Tim Sweeney shared his views about the new Apple child safety tool. He feels that Apple should not release such a tool that might give them access to all of their users’ data. WhatsApp's Will Cathcart thinks that this Apple feature is the wrong approach and it will be a setback for people's privacy all over the world. He thinks that the privacy of the users is exploited because Apple’s software is going to scan all the private photos on the users’ phones including the pictures that have not been shared with anyone. Seeing such a response from WhatsApp and Epic Games is ironic considering  Apple had earlier reported issues with Facebook’s data collection practices for targetted advertisements via its channels, like WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram.

Epic VS Apple

Currently, Apple is in the middle of a legal battle with Epic Games after they banned Fortnite from the Apple App Store servers. Epic Games had filed for this lawsuit mostly because of Apple’s policies which forced the game and app developers to process in-app purchases through Apple so the company gets 30 percent of the total revenue earned. A similar case was also filed against Google. But a report from The Verge confirms that the American tech giants were thinking of buying the Fortnite game developers. Epic also complained that Google had been taking advantage of its size, influence, power, and money to induce third parties “into anti-competitive agreements that further entrench its monopolies”.