The United Kingdom (UK) agreed Tuesday to drop its demand that Apple provide Americans’ encrypted data. President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, confirmed the backdown.
Vice President JD Vance led the charge in the negotiations to drop its demand for Americans’ private data. Vance, working with UK partners, successfully negotiated an agreement that the UK government would withdraw the backdoor order to Apple.
Gabbard told the Financial Times the UK government “agreed to drop” its demand that Apple provide access to “encrypted data of American citizens,” which President Donald Trump had compared to Chinese surveillance.
The deal between the Trump administration and the UK helps maintain each country’s sovereignty while ensuring cooperation on data sharing, according to a U.S. official.
The U.S. official said that Vance has taken a strong interest in this issue because of his background in technology, his concern for privacy, and his commitment to a strong UK-U.S. partnership.
Vance has also accused European countries of suppressing free speech and unfairly disadvantaging American companies.
One British official said that issue was “settled,” while another said the UK government “caved” to American pressure. A third UK official said “we can’t and we won’t” force Apple to break its encryption.
“Over the past few months, I’ve been working closely with our partners in the UK, alongside President Trump and vice-president Vance, to ensure Americans’ private data remains private and our constitutional rights and civil liberties are protected,” Gabbard said.
“I’m happy to share that the UK has agreed to drop its mandate for Apple to provide a ‘back door’ that would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens and encroached on our civil liberties,” she added.
In February, Apple removed its iCloud Advanced Data Protection from the UK, “As we have said many times before, we have never built a back door or master key to any of our products or services and we never will.”
The iCloud Advanced Data Protection product provides end-to-end encryption, making it harder for a government such as the UK to obtain access to Americans’ private data.
The tech company subsequently made a complaint to the UK Investigatory Powers Tribunal over the demand for data access and the case will be heard early 2026.
While the UK Investigatory Powers Act has been criticized as a “snooper’s charter,” the government has argued the power is necessary to combat terrorism and child sexual abuse. The UK Home Office noted that the UK and US has a Data Access Agreement that would allow for law enforcement agencies to request data held by telecommunications providers in either country.
The UK Home Office said the agreement “includes critical safeguards to prevent the UK and US from targeting the data of each other’s citizens.”
“We will continue to build on those arrangements, and we will also continue to take all actions necessary at the domestic level to keep UK citizens safe,” the Home Office continued.
In a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) in February, Gabbard said she shared their “grave concern” about the “serious implications” of the United Kingdom to require Apple to provide a backdoor to Americans’ private data.
She stated, “This would be a clear and egregious violation of Americans’ privacy and civil liberties, and open up a serious vulnerability for cyber exploitation by adversarial actors.”
“Any information sharing between a government—any government—and private companies must be done in a manner that respects and protects the U.S. law and the Constitutional rights of U.S. citizens,” she continued. “I look forward to ensuring the UK government has taken necessary actions to protect the privacy of American citizens, consistent with the CLOUD Act and other applicable laws, irrespective of any press reporting.”
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3.
