First-of-its-kind government lawsuit targets tech giant's failure to detect and report CSAM on iCloud
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey today filed a lawsuit against Apple Inc., alleging the company knowingly allowed its iCloud platform to be used as a vehicle for distributing and storing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) — and for years chose to do nothing about it.
"Preserving the privacy of child predators is absolutely inexcusable. And more importantly, it violates West Virginia law. Since Apple has so far refused to police themselves and do the morally right thing, I am filing this lawsuit to demand Apple follow the law, report these images, and stop re-victimizing children by allowing these images to be stored and shared," Attorney General JB McCuskey said.
The lawsuit reveals that Apple, in its own internal communications, described itself as the "greatest platform for distributing child porn" — yet took no meaningful action to stop it. Rather than implement industry-standard detection tools used by its peers, Apple repeatedly shirked their responsibility to protect children under the guise of user privacy.
Federal law requires all technology companies based in the U.S. to report detected CSAM to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). In 2023, Apple made just 267 such reports. By contrast, Google filed 1.47 million reports and Meta filed more than 30.6 million. Apple's failure to deploy available detection technology is not a passive oversight — it is a choice.
The complaint argues that because Apple maintains end-to-end control over its hardware, software, and cloud infrastructure, it cannot claim to be an unknowing, passive conduit of CSAM. Apple designed, built, and profited from the very system it allowed to be weaponized against children.
The consumer protection complaint, filed in the Circuit Court of Mason County, is the first lawsuit of its kind brought by a governmental agency against Apple over CSAM distribution.
The West Virginia Attorney General's Office is seeking statutory and punitive damages, injunctive relief requiring Apple to implement effective CSAM detection measures, and equitable remedies mandating safer product design going forward.
Read the lawsuit here.
View the press conference here.