Apple walks back plans for new child safety tools after privacy backlash

Apple on Friday reversed course on its plans to implement new features aimed at combating child exploitation and promoting safety following backlash over the technology's potential implications for privacy.

The plan centered on a new system that would have checked iOS devices and iCloud photos for child abuse imagery. It included a new opt-in feature that would warn minors and their parents of sexually explicit incoming or sent image attachments in iMessage and blur them. Apple's announcement last month that it would begin testing the tool fit with a recent increased focus on protecting children among tech companies — but it was light on specific details and was swiftly met with outraged tweets, critical headlines and calls for more information.