UK drops bid for Apple backdoor amid encryption dispute

The United Kingdom has abandoned its bid to compel Apple to provide a backdoor to encrypted data for users, a development described by U.S. intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard as a win for privacy and civil liberties. While the formal withdrawal has not been publicly confirmed by UK authorities, Gabbard said that London agreed to drop the mandate after months of coordination with the White House and senior U.S. officials, signaling a cooling of the transatlantic dispute over how encrypted information should be accessed for law enforcement.

The dispute originated under the UK’s Investigatory Powers Act, when authorities issued a technical capability notice aimed at forcing tech companies to weaken encryption and grant access to cloud data, including iCloud backups and other protected material. Apple responded by temporarily removing Advanced Data Protection, the company’s strongest form of end-to-end encryption, in the United Kingdom and signaling that it could not, and would not, build a backdoor to enable blanket access to user data. The company reaffirmed its commitment to user privacy, stating that it had never created a backdoor or master key and would not do so.