The U.K. government has backed away from a clash with the Trump administration over customer data.
In January, the Home Office demanded Apple $AAPL build a “back door” to allow law enforcement or security services to tap into its cloud storage system, in an undisclosed order uncovered by Bloomberg. Even Apple itself is unable to access this system, which contains user data, and would force the tech giant to break its end-to-end encryption.
The demand reportedly led to a riff with Washington officials.
“This is something that the vice-president is very annoyed about and which needs to be resolved,” an official in the U.K.’s technology department told the Financial Times last month. “It’s a big red line in the U.S. — they don’t want us messing with their tech companies,” the source added.
President Donald Trump likened the order to “something ... that you hear about with China,” telling Prime Minister Keir Starmer: “You can’t do this.”
Caving to the administration's demands, the U.K. appears to have backtracked.
The government has “agreed to drop its mandate for Apple to provide a "back door" that would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens and encroached on our civil liberties,” Tulsi Gabbard, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, wrote in an X $TWTR post earlier today. Gabbard, Trump, and Vance had been "working closely" with their "U.K. partners" for months to secure the outcome, she added.
The Home Office initially made the order by issuing a “technical capability notice” under the U.K. Investigatory Powers Act. The government maintains that this legislation is crucial to allow law enforcement to investigate terrorism and child sexual abuse, with critics dubbing it a “snooper’s charter."
Rather than abiding by the order, Apple withdrew access to its highest level data security tool for U.K. customers. Known as Advanced Data Protection (ADP), the tool means that only iCloud account holders can view the photos or documents they store online.
The iPhone maker also began a legal process to challenge the notice. Its case was due to be heard at a tribunal in early 2026, but it is not yet clear whether this will go ahead.