The company then filed a complaint with the Investigatory Powers Tribunal challenging the Home Secretary’s powers to issue such a notice.
The dispute has been a sticking point in negotiations for a tech cooperation pact between London and Washington. The Financial Times reported last month that senior Washington officials, including Vice President JD Vance, were pressuring the U.K. to drop its fight with Apple.
The U.S. State Department’s annual assessment of countries’ human rights records published last month raised concerns about U.K. “government regulation to reduce or eliminate effective encryption (and therefore user privacy) on platforms,” though appeared to confuse the Online Safety Act with the Investigatory Powers Act.