Apple is challenging another legal demand by the UK government to access the encrypted data of users in the country, According to the Financial Times.
The company is reported to have filed a complaint with the UK’s Magistrates Court, which hears cases related to government surveillance, after the government last year issued a “technical capability notice.” The notice is a secret government legal order for demanding access to user data, even if the data is encrypted.
For critics, this kind of requirement amounts to a backdoor request into Apple’s cloud backup with Advanced Data Protection (ADP) switched on, which makes data end-to-end encrypted and inaccessible to anyone other than customers, including Apple.
This new challenge comes a year after a similar battle between Apple and the British government. In early 2025, London issued a secret order to Apple demanding access to encrypted iCloud backups of users, which was later dropped after the intervention of the Trump administration.
After the first order, the company reacted by removing the ability of UK users to use ADP. Then, in October, the UK issued a second order, which Apple is now challenging.
Apple did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
