ADF to SEC: Allow Apple shareholders to vote on child sex abuse material identification software transparency proposal

Letter from ADF attorneys calls on SEC to deny Apple’s request to exclude shareholder resolution aimed at providing needed transparency from its 2025 proxy ballot

WASHINGTON – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys sent a letter Monday to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, calling on the agency to deny Apple’s attempt to exclude a shareholder resolution aimed at providing transparency into why the company has removed an iOS software function designed to identify child sex abuse material.

As the letter indicates, shareholders are calling on Apple to explain its decision to discontinue its scanning system, “NeuraHash,” which Verge.com described as “allow[ing] Apple to check for exact matches of known child-abuse imagery without possessing any of the images or gleaning any information about non-matching pictures.” The resolution was filed by the American Family Association, which noted in a supporting statement that Apple’s ineffective efforts to prevent child sex abuse material on its platforms have resulted in the company landing on the National Center for Sexual Exploitation’s “Dirty Dozen” list for the past two years.

Rather than allowing its shareholders to vote on the proposal at the 2025 annual meeting, Apple—which scored just 5% out of a possible 100% on ADF’s 2024 Viewpoint Diversity Score Business Index—has asked permission from the SEC to exclude it from the proxy ballot. ADF attorneys are calling on the SEC to deny Apple’s request.

“Major corporations like Apple shouldn’t be hiding from shareholders, especially when it comes to serious issues like guarding against child sex abuse material,” said ADF Senior Counsel and Senior Vice President for Corporate Engagement Jeremy Tedesco. “There is simply no excuse for Apple to avoid this important topic. Apple needs to rebuild trust with its shareholders and clients, but that can’t happen unless it answers basic questions about removing its own safeguard against child sex abuse material.”

In the last two years, ADF attorneys have gone 5-for-5 defending shareholder resolutions at the SEC, including at Apple, Wells Fargo, and Charles Schwab in 2024. During the 2023 shareholder season, the SEC declined requests from PayPal and JPMorgan Chase to deny resolutions after ADF attorneys and Jonathan Berry of Boyden Gray & Associates successfully petitioned the SEC to oppose the companies’ appeals.

In the most recent no-action request, Apple appealed primarily to an SEC regulation that allows companies to exempt a proposal that “deals with a matter relating to the company’s ordinary business operations.” While that rule exists to protect companies from being micromanaged by their shareholders, ADF attorneys raise a series of fiduciary and reputational risks introduced by Apple’s decision to discontinue its NeuraHash program.

ADF attorneys also highlight the apparent contradiction between Apple’s agreement that “[child sex abuse material] is a significant societal issue that needs to be addressed” with its attempt to evade shareholder transparency on the issue.

“Apple can’t have it both ways,” said ADF Legal Counsel Michael Ross. “I’m confident that Apple agrees with its own shareholders about the importance of addressing and guarding against child sex abuse material. Unfortunately, Apple’s actions don’t seem to be lining up with their statements. That raises important questions, and shareholders deserve answers. We’re confident the SEC will agree.”

Find out more about Viewpoint Diversity Score and the Business Index at www.viewpointdiversityscore.org.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

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