Carded Before Sexting?

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer wants tech companies to stop teenagers from sending and receiving nude images. But this ostensibly well-intentioned proposal would be a disaster for adult privacy.

"I'm calling on tech companies operating in this country to introduce device controls that prevent children from sending and receiving sexually explicit images," Starmer said on June 8, during London Tech Week. "If they choose not to, then we will act, and we will change the law."

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Starmer makes it sound as if what he's proposing is easy and tech companies are simply being negligent by not doing it. But there is no simple—or non-invasive—way for phone and device companies to comply. And authorities gave tech companies just three months to implement these new controls.

Bringing on the Selfie Snoops

One track tech companies could take is heavier-handed monitoring of all text messages. Encrypted messaging would obviously be off-limits under this scheme.

An algorithm could determine whether images involved nudity or semi-nudity, and attempt to estimate the age of the person depicted. But humans would have to get involved at some point, too—to assess images, to review decisions, and so on. That means anyone—adult or minor—could have their most personal images subject to prying eyeballs.

And with fines and legal action possible, you can bet that phone companies are going to err on the side of caution. That means plenty of adults would be blocked from sending sexy images, too. There's no clear way to tell from many photos—especially those that don't show faces—if someone is 17 or 23 or 35.

Of course, age-assessing images would only half accomplish what Starmer says must happen. It wouldn't be able to stop minors from receiving sexually oriented images, just from sending them.

Bringing on Universal ID Checks

To really do what Starmer wants, tech companies would have to identity check everyone at the device level. That means every mobile phone or tablet user would have to submit a government ID or biometric data to prove their age.

"Adults would ⁠still ⁠be able to take, ⁠share ​or view nude content through an age verification process," as Reuters  puts it .

That really drives home the dystopian aspect, doesn't it?

If a British adult wants to send their spouse a topless photo, they had better be prepared to upload an ID card. If a British adult wants to receive a striptease video from a paramour, they must be prepared to have their face scanned first. If a British sex worker wants to text some sexy videos to clients, they're going to have to expose their true identity to tech companies and probably whatever government agency wants to ask for that information, too.

And, of course, device-level verification means you're going to get carded or face-scanned even if you have no interest in sexting. Most likely, everyone would have to do it (or else, at a minimum, face a range of restrictions on their device).

Starmer wants spyware to be installed on every single phone in the country — that's unlikely to actually protect children but will raise significant risks for your privacy. https://t.co/pQXwz5twbU

— Matthew Lesh (@matthewlesh) June 8, 2026

Even with device-level verification, this scheme would still seem to require a lot of monitoring of minors' text messages. In the name of protecting teens from people seeing them naked, we would be exposing their naked images.

Privacy Tradeoffs…for What?

For all of this, would the U.K. actually be able to stop minors from sending or receiving sexually oriented images? After all, text messages aren't the only way to exchange photos. Even if you ban kids from texting and from social media ( something Britain is also proposing ), they can still access email, encrypted messaging platforms, private forums, Google Drive, Dropbox, and so on.

Either you entirely stop people under age 18 from communicating digitally, or you're going to have an utterly toothless plan to stop them from sending sexually explicit images. And even if you take a hard line, it could still fail if kids can game the age verification process.

Australia's under-16 social media ban has shown that kids are quite good at doing this .

Ultimately, all of Starmer's scheme would be good for is making sure that there's a verified identity attached to every single phone and tablet.

"Protecting children online is vital, but these are outrageous plans that will fail to address the underlying causes of online harm," said Big Brother Watch in a statement . "This will only result in population-wide ID checks for all of us to use our phones, tablets and laptops."

"No one in a democracy should need to show their passport just to get online," it added.

This isn't an issue just confined to the U.K., mind you. In the United States, device-level ID laws are gaining in popularity.…