UK backs down on plans to force Apple to share encrypted user data
The British government has backed down on plans to force Apple to share encrypted user data, according to President Trump’s intelligence chief.
Tulsi Gabbard told the Financial Times that the government has agreed to abandon its demands for a “back door” for data.
US vice-president JD Vance reportedly intervened to broker the exemption for the tech giant, which faced an official order under the Investigatory Powers Act to give the UK access to iCloud user data.
A US official told the FT: “The vice-president negotiated a mutually beneficial understanding that the UK government will withdraw the current back-door order to Apple.”
Though the order has not yet been formally withdrawn, the issue is thought to be “settled”, and a UK official told the financial broadsheet that “we can’t and we won’t” force Apple to provide a back door for encrypted data.
Gabbard said: “Over the past few months, I’ve been working closely with our partners in the UK, alongside President Trump and vice-president Vance, to ensure Americans’ private data remains private and our constitutional rights and civil liberties are protected.
“I’m happy to share that the UK 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.”
UK and US divided on ‘free speech’
The government hopes that the concession will allow a cooling between London and Washington on the issue, after several interventions from figures in and around the Trump administration.
In February, at what was otherwise a successful and cordial meeting with Donald Trump at the White House, Vance warned of “infringements on free speech”.
Starmer denied that this was the government’s intention, adding that he was “very proud of our history” on free speech.
US officials had seized upon the measures in the Online Safety Act – which came into effect on 25th July – to illustrate alleged attacks on free speech from Sir Keir Starmer’s government.
Former Trump supporter and mega-donor Elon Musk’s X platform put up a post entitled ‘What Happens When Oversight Becomes Overreach’, which echoed Vance’s language by warning of the “risk of seriously infringing on the public’s right to free expression”.
This move represents the first active climbdown in Labour’s implementation of the controversial online restrictions, which have thrown up a number of political headaches for the government.
While 80 per cent of the public back curbs on access to sensitive online material for minors, the new rules have led to a surge in VPN usage – allowing internet users to essentially ignore the new rules – and concerns around security from decentralised ID verification platforms.