By Rajwa Quasim
A U.S. District Judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit that alleged Apple failed to prevent the circulation of child sexual abuse material in its iCloud data storage platform.
Judge Noël Wise in San Jose, California, cited Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields online platforms from liability for content posted by users, in dismissing the lawsuit.
The lawsuit filed in 2024 by the plaintiffs, going by the aliases ‘Amy’ and ‘Jessica,’ claimed Apple failed to prevent images depicting their childhood sexual abuse from being stored and shared on iCloud.
According to the court filings, the lawsuit represents similar allegations of 2,680 individuals and sought compensatory damages of up to $32.8 billion. The plaintiffs also urged the court direct Apple in making changes to its iCloud service so such content can be removed from the platform.
The case was dismissed by prejudice which means the plaintiffs cannot refile. The judge also stated that, “it is up to lawmakers, not the court to fix this problem that is contributing to the exploitation of children.”
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Apple countered using Section 230 of the 1996 federal law called Communications Decency Act, which provides legal protection to online platforms such as social media companies, search engines and other interactive websites from being held responsible for content posted by users. It generally prevents lawsuits over third-party content but does not protect companies from liability for content they create themselves. Section 230(c)(1) specifies that service providers and users may not “be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”
James Marsh, an attorney of the plaintiffs, said they are considering an appeal and other possible legal options. Although the plaintiffs are dissatisfied with the court’s decision, Marsh said,”we agree with her conclusion that Congress should do more to protect children online and address the skyrocketing harms from online exploitation.”
Hillary Nappi, another attorney of the plaintiffs, added, “This decision only adds urgency to the pending legislative efforts to ensure technology companies can be held accountable for the harm caused by their design choices.”
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The lawsuit alleged that Apple was aware of child sexual abuse material on iCloud but failed to use available technology to detect and report it. It also highlighted that Apple abandoned its planned NeuralHash detection system which was announced in 2021. The lawsuit further stated, Apple introducing end-to-end encryption made it difficult for law enforcement and Apple to detect such material in the iCloud. Apple denied the claims, saying it uses other measures to combat child sexual abuse material while protecting users’ privacy and security.
In February 2026, West Virginia’s attorney general sued Apple, alleging for the same and this case is still ongoing. Apple countered the claims in the suit by saying “protecting the safety and privacy of our users, especially children, is central to what we do.”
Earlier this year, courts in separate cases ordered Meta and YouTube to pay damages by holding them responsible for design related harms than user content and sidestepping Section 230(c)(1). In a case in New Mexico, Meta was ordered to pay $375 million in damages.