- West Virginia AG J.B. McCuskey sued Apple Inc. over allegations that its iCloud ecosystem facilitates the collection, storage, and distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), asserting strict liability, negligence, and public nuisance claims, in addition to violations of the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act.
- In the complaint, the AG’s office alleges that Apple designed its iCloud and iMessage features to facilitate the storage and sharing of CSAM while engineering an “encryption shield” that, the state says, protects bad actors and hampers law enforcement detection.
- The AG’s office further alleges that Apple abandoned planned detection tools in 2022 while continuing to represent in its public Privacy Policy that it scans uploaded content for illegal material.
- The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief requiring Apple to take reasonable measures to abate the alleged public nuisance and bring its conduct into conformity with law, as well as restitution, disgorgement, civil penalties, punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees and costs, among other relief.