As the world waited for Apple to launch its new iPhone on September 20th, 2024, the Heat Initiative organized a campaign to spotlight a critical issue at their flagship store in New York City: Apple products are not safe for children and adolescents. Joined by Brave Movement Survivor Leader, Tom Krumins, the Heat Initiative and the Brave Movement seized the moment to spotlight this issue to Apple’s leadership and the world.

According to the Into the Light Index by the Global Child Safety Institute, 1 case of online child sexual exploitation and abuse is reported every second. The lack of safety measures and effective policies by companies like Apple have exacerbated this issue around the world. This year, Apple was listed as a mainstream contributor to sexual exploitation in the National Center on Sexual Exploitation’s Dirty Dozen List. They reported that Apple refuses to detect child sexual abuse material, hosts dangerous apps with deceptive age ratings and descriptions, and won’t default safety features for teens. This is why the Brave Movement has a priority global campaign on online safety, that we are proud to deliver with allies, and as such joined the Heat Initiative to advocate for tech companies like Apple to be held accountable, and to urge them to take action to make their platforms safer for children and adolescents.

The Heat Initiative’s bold activation at the iPhone 16 launch was part of Heat’s ongoing corporate pressure campaign, which aims to highlight Apple’s failure to adequately address childhood sexual violence on its platforms and devices, such as iPhones, iPads, iMessage and iCloud. This campaign not only confronted Apple at one of its most high-profile events, but the campaign took its important message straight to Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, himself.

A small yet determined team of activists distributed flyers outlining demands regarding child safety on Apple products, strategically placed signs with powerful messages in front of the Apple logo (ensuring that they appeared in official company photos and news broadcasts), and pop-up signs appeared in front of Apple CEO Tim Cook wherever he turned, to ensure that the message about child safety was visible.

The key demands from the Heat Initiative and Brave Movement for Apple are:

1. Let kids report abuse
2. Require safe apps
3. Stop spreading child abuse

These demands are crucial because they are not only asking for improvements in Apple’s products, but will protect millions of vulnerable users, particularly children and adolescents.

Ultimately, Apple is a company with global influence, and its products are used by children and adolescents all around the world. However, its current safeguards are inadequate when it comes to protecting these users from sexual violence and exploitation online. By adopting changes which prioritize the safety of children, Apple can set a standard that tech companies everywhere can follow.

Until these safety measures are implemented, we will continue working with partners such as the Heat Initiative to push for change, and continue fighting for a sexual violence free internet.

As Sarah Gardner, CEO of Heat Initiative said at the activation on September 20th, “On behalf of current and future survivors, we are calling on Tim Book, Craig Federighi, and Apple leadership to stop prioritizing profit over child safety and become innovators in the tech space again by making their products safer for kids.”

The time for tech companies to take action is NOW, because children can’t wait.