British Government Withdraws Demand For Access To Apple Users' Data

Uploaded on 2025-08-25 in GOVERNMENT-National, FREE TO VIEW, BUSINESS-Services-Law, BUSINESS-Services-IT & Telecoms

In response to political pressure from the US, the UK has agreed to withdraw regulations that would have empowered it to have investigatory access to Apple users' data. The US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) has already announced the reversal its controversial demand.

On an X post Tulsi Gabbard, chief of the the DNI spy agency, said the UK had agreed to drop its instruction for Apple and other technology platforms to provide a "back door" which would have "enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens and encroached on our civil liberties".

Apple has apparently not yet received any formal communication from either the US or UK governments.

In December, the UK issued Apple with a government request for the right to access encrypted data from its users worldwide. However Apple itself cannot view the data of customers who have activated its toughest security tool, Advanced Data Protection (ADP), which prevents anyone other than the user from reading their files.
In order to do so, it would have had to break its own encryption methods.

Apple responded by taking ADP off the UK market, and started a legal process to challenge the order, which was due to be heard at a tribunal in early 2026. It is not yet clear whether that will now go ahead.

Because of the secrecy surrounding the government order, issued under the Investigatory Powers Act, it is not known whether other tech companies have also received a demand. The messaging platform WhatsApp, used by millions in Britain, says so far it has not. The notice, which neither Apple nor the Home Office has ever confirmed, enraged privacy campaigners, who are now cautiously optimistic about the news.

There is already a legal agreement between the US and UK governments, the Data Access Agreement, allows law enforcement from either country to directly request data held by telecommunications providers in the other party's jurisdiction for the exclusive purpose of preventing, detecting, investigating and prosecuting serious crimes such as terrorism and child sexual abuse and exploitation.

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