UK orders Apple to grant it access to worldwide users' cloud data, report says

British government wants access to all encrypted data, no matter the user’s nationality, US media reports

Apple says its system means no one else can access a user's data, not even the company. Reuters

The British government has ordered Apple to give it access to all content that users worldwide upload to the cloud, including their encrypted data, it was reported on Friday.

The move is likely to provoke fury from the US tech industry, which has already accused the UK of Orwellian practices in policing online content.

The Washington Post said the Home Office issued the order last month under the Investigatory Powers Act of 2016, which enables authorities to compel assistance from companies when it needs to collect evidence.

The law is also known as the “Snoopers’ Charter” and makes it a criminal offence for a company to even reveal that the government has made a request, the Post reported.

“We do not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any such notices,” a Home Office spokesman told The National.

For years, Apple has promoted the privacy settings it provides its users as standard, as well as offering users an additional, opt-in, Advanced Data Protection tool to fully encrypt a wider range of their data in its iCloud service. An Apple spokesman declined to comment to the Post.

The company has frequently said it regards privacy as a “fundamental human right” and says its system means no one else can access a user's data, not even Apple itself.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Labour Party are in a spat with X owner Elon Musk, the world's richest man who has an influential role in US President Donald's Trump administration, raising concerns about possible implications for transatlantic relations.

The dispute includes claims by Mr Musk that the British government was clamping down on free speech around the time of last summer's riots and that it had failed to prosecute grooming gangs.

According to the Post report, sources said Apple may choose to stop offering encrypted storage in the UK rather than break its security pledges to users. But the report warned this would not fulfil the government's demand for broad access in other countries, as the Investigatory Powers Act applies globally to any firm with a UK market, even if they are not based in the country.

Under the law, Apple can appeal against the UK's order, but cannot delay its application even during the appeal process.

Police and security services around the world have pushed for more access to encrypted communications in recent years, warning that encryption allows criminals such as terrorists and child abusers to more easily hide and hampers efforts to catch them.

In response, tech firms have argued that users have a right to privacy and that any backdoors into software created for intelligence and security services could also be exploited by criminals or authoritarian regimes.

Rebecca Vincent, interim director of privacy at civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch, described the development as “an unprecedented attack on privacy rights that has no place in any democracy”.

“Big Brother Watch has been ringing alarm bells about the possibility of precisely this scenario since the adoption of the Investigatory Powers Bill in 2016,” she said, PA news agency reported. “We all want the [UK] government to be able to effectively tackle crime and terrorism, but breaking encryption will not make us safer.”