WWDC protesters want Apple to ban Elon Musk’s apps

# WWDC protesters want Apple to ban Elon Musk’s apps Source: [https://www.theverge.com/tech/945813/apple-wwdc-protesters-deepfake-nude-apps-ultraviolet-heat-initiative](https://www.theverge.com/tech/945813/apple-wwdc-protesters-deepfake-nude-apps-ultraviolet-heat-initiative) [Skip to main content](https://www.theverge.com/tech/945813/apple-wwdc-protesters-deepfake-nude-apps-ultraviolet-heat-initiative#content) They’re also demanding a crackdown on child abuse imagery in iCloud\. They’re also demanding a crackdown on child abuse imagery in iCloud\. by Jun 8, 2026, 4:37 PM UTC   Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge [](https://www.theverge.com/authors/jay-peters) Jay Peters is a senior reporter covering technology, gaming, and more\. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme\. Apple’s big developer conference is today, and protesters are using the occasion to call on the company to remove “nudify apps” from the App Store and pull “known” child sexual abuse material from iCloud\. Outside the visitors center at Apple’s Cupertino campus, protesters have put up a large sign saying “Apple is powered by child sexual abuse” and asking incoming CEO John Ternus, “What will you do?” The protesters come from[UltraViolet](https://weareultraviolet.org/apple-child-sex-abuse/), a women’s advocacy group, and[Heat Initiative](https://heatinitiative.org/about/), a group that aims to “hold tech companies accountable for enabling and profiting from child sexual abuse\.” Apple and Google came under[significant scrutiny](https://www.theverge.com/policy/859902/apple-google-run-by-cowards)earlier this year for continuing to keep apps like xAI’s Grok on their app stores even though users were able to make[nonconsensual sexualized deepfakes](https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/855832/grok-undressing-children-csam-law-x-elon-musk)\. In pamphlets distributed at the protest, the organizations say that “at least 47 nudify apps have been found on Apple’s App Store” and that “Apple has made an estimated $117 million minimum from nudify apps,” including “an estimated $35\+ million from Grok alone,” citing data from[the Tech Transparency Project](https://www.techtransparencyproject.org/articles/nudify-apps-widely-available-in-apple-and-google-app-stores)\. UltraViolet also has[a website](https://weareultraviolet.org/apple-child-sex-abuse/)dedicated to its protest today\. [](https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/IMG_0805.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100) Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Apple previously[scrapped plans](https://www.theverge.com/2022/12/9/23500838/apple-csam-plans-dropped-eff-ncmec-cdt-reactions)to scan photos saved to iCloud for child sexual abuse imagery over privacy concerns\. Apple didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment\. **Follow topics and authors**from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates\. - Jay Peters ## The Verge Daily A free daily digest of the news that matters most\.