Overview

• Unnamed UK officials told the Financial Times that the Home Office is preparing to withdraw its technical capability notice under the Investigatory Powers Act.
• Apple halted its Advanced Data Protection end-to-end encryption service in the UK in response to the January order and has appealed the backdoor demand in the Investigatory Powers Tribunal.
• WhatsApp has applied to submit evidence alongside Apple at upcoming public tribunal hearings challenging the UK’s request for direct access to encrypted data.
• Pressure from Washington increased after US officials said a forced backdoor would breach the Cloud Act and President Trump publicly called on Prime Minister Starmer to uphold encryption.
• Privacy advocates and firms such as Signal warn that any mandated backdoor would weaken user security and could prompt tech companies to exit the UK market.