US spy chief Tulsi Gabbard has said that the UK had agreed to scrap its controversial ‘backdoor’ mandate targeting Apple
US spy chief Tulsi Gabbard has said that the UK had agreed to scrap its controversial ‘backdoor’ mandate targeting Apple
US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said on Monday that the UK had agreed to abandon its mandate requiring Apple to create a “backdoor” that would have allowed access to encrypted data of American citizens.
Gabbard issued the statement on X, adding that she had worked for months with the British government, alongside President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, to reach the agreement.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was in Washington on Monday with other European leaders to meet Trump and discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Neither the UK government nor Apple responded immediately to requests for comment on Gabbard’s statement.
US lawmakers had previously raised concerns that the UK’s order, if enforced, could be exploited by cybercriminals and authoritarian governments. Apple, which has maintained that it would never build such access into its encrypted services or devices, challenged the mandate at the UK’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal.
Following the UK order, Apple withdrew its Advanced Data Protection feature for UK users in February. The feature allows iPhone, Mac, and other Apple device users to ensure that only they and not even Apple can access their cloud-stored data.
Earlier this year, US officials reviewed whether the UK violated a bilateral agreement by demanding Apple build a backdoor, which would have granted the British government access to backups in Apple’s encrypted cloud systems.
In a February 25 letter to US lawmakers, Gabbard said the US was examining whether the UK had breached the CLOUD Act, which bars either country from issuing demands for the other’s citizens’ data.
Cybersecurity experts warned that creating a government backdoor could eventually be discovered and exploited by hackers. Apple has faced similar regulatory challenges over encryption since 2016, when the US government attempted to compel the company to unlock an iPhone belonging to a suspected extremist.
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