Progress made with Apple on addressing child exploitation

Last fall, Praxis Mutual Funds® joined other investors to co-file a proposal at Apple to address online child exploitation. The resolution requested that Apple publish a report assessing risks of its products and services being used to facilitate online sexual exploitation of children. The investors requested the report include metrics on the effectiveness of Apple’s prevention efforts, such as the amount of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) transmission prevented annually.

This year, the investors withdrew their proposal in exchange for commitments from Apple that include more information on Apple’s risk assessments, a formal description of the company’s process for identifying CSAM images, and a meeting with investors.

Each year, millions of images and videos of CSAM circulate online. In 2022, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received 31 million reports of alleged child sex abuse material.

Online sexual exploitation of children poses material business risks to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) companies and investors. In addition to reputational and legal risks, emerging legislation such as the United States’ STOP CSAM Act and Kids On-line Safety Act aims to hold tech companies responsible for keeping children safe online and impose penalties that present financial risks for failing to adequately address the problem.

Praxis is pleased with the progress of our company engagement with Apple, and we will continue to encourage ICT companies to step up their efforts to address CSAM.