CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A lawsuit filed by West Virginia accusing Apple Inc. of shielding child sexual abuse material on its platforms will proceed in state court after a federal judge rejected the company’s attempt to move the case.
The Attorney General’s Office alleges Apple’s business practices and product‑design decisions allow child sexual abuse materials, or CSAM, to remain undetected. Federal law requires technology companies to report known CSAM to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, but Apple argued that its reporting obligations made it a “person acting under” a federal officer — a claim the court said did not justify federal jurisdiction.
The judge ruled that Apple’s compliance with federal reporting requirements did not meet the threshold for removal under the federal officer statute and sent the case back to West Virginia courts.
The state’s complaint also points to what it calls a stark gap in Apple’s reporting. In 2023, Apple submitted 267 CyberTipline reports, compared with 1.47 million from Google and more than 30.6 million from Meta.
Attorney General JB McCuskey said the ruling ensures the case will be decided under state law.
“At its core, this case is about Apple’s deliberate business and product‑design decisions to prioritize profits over the safety of our children,” McCuskey said. “Apple’s failure to deploy available detection technology is not a passive oversight — it is a choice.”
The lawsuit, filed in February, cites internal Apple communications in which the company allegedly referred to itself as the “greatest platform for distributing child porn.” The complaint claims Apple abandoned its public commitment to develop CSAM detection tools and continued making design decisions that allowed the storage and distribution of illegal material while presenting itself publicly as a leader in child safety.
Apple has filed notice that it intends to appeal the remand order.
