
JD Vance just stopped the UK government from spying on iPhones. The UK gave Apple 2 brutal options: “Give us worldwide access to every user’s data, or pay us $10M a day.” Legal experts said Apple couldn’t win. So Vance went head-to-head with the UK himself:
Story so far …. In early 2025, the UK government invoked its “Snooper’s Charter.” This gave them power to force tech companies to break their own encryption. Apple was their first target:
The demand was simple but devastating. Create a backdoor into iCloud that would let the UK government access any user’s data. Not just UK citizens. All 1.5 billion Apple users worldwide. The penalties for refusing were brutal whooping £10 million per day in fines. 2-year prison sentences for Apple executives. Potential criminal prosecution under the Serious Crime Act. Apple faced an impossible choice.