> Honestly I would have been fine with Apple scanning my all photos after they are uploaded to iCloud

Apple has already been doing exactly this for years. Now they are going to check the photos right before uploading to iCloud which is actually more privacy friendly than they do now. It also lets Apple turn on e2e for iCloud photos if they want.

I understand the 'what if' and slippery slope arguments, but wow, there is so much misunderstanding in this thread. Apple makes the OS and doesn't need a fancy system to scan all the files on the device if that's what they want to do.

I highly suggest reading this: https://www.apple.com/child-safety/ and the associated PDFs. Apple PR hosed this up by putting 3 distinct features on one page that people seem to be conflating.