The UK has retreated on its controversial demand for Apple to provide a “back door” to encrypted customer data after pressure from the Trump administration, according to US officials, ending a diplomatic row between London and Washington.
Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence, told the Financial Times the UK had “agreed to drop” its demand that Apple enable access to “the protected encrypted data of American citizens”, a move that the US president had previously likened to Chinese surveillance.
Vice-president JD Vance, who was recently on holiday in the UK, intervened to ensure Britain agreed to withdraw an order that sought to force Apple to break open encrypted data stored in its iCloud system that even the iPhone maker itself is normally unable to access, according to a US official.