Have you ever received an iCloud link from a friend and thought to yourself, “Hmm, I wonder if there’s harmful content in there”? Me neither, but this is apparently a problem Apple has set out to resolve.

The first iOS 27.3 developer beta came out on Tuesday, and the god-sent folks over at 9to5Mac are already digging into the support documents. They’ve flagged one interesting tidbit: Apple is now going to be checking photos and files shared through public iCloud links for “harmful content,” starting with iOS 27.3.

For those unfamiliar, iCloud links work similarly to Google Drive links; you can share them just with people you select, or you can choose violence and set them to “Anyone with the link” (which, as Apple’s support document correctly points out, makes it accessible to anyone who has the link). These are the links Apple says it will now be checking out.

One thing to note here: Apple doesn’t specify what constitutes “harmful content” for the purpose of these checks. Its existing iCloud terms do include a prohibition on obvious things like malware and child abuse, but it’s not made clear whether that’s all it’s referring to here.

Some might say it’s clearly an “I know it when I see it” sort of vibe, but many, many platforms have struggled to define and consistently enforce these exact boundaries. Harm has grey areas, especially when cloud storage, which often contains content not intended for public consumption, is involved.

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