Elon Musk is now siding with Apple on UK privacy issue
Mar 05, 2025 - businessinsider.com
Apple is reportedly considering legal action against the UK government over an alleged "secret" order demanding access to iPhone cloud data. Elon Musk, who has previously criticized Apple's privacy practices, surprisingly supports Apple's stance on this issue. The controversy arose after letters from congressmen and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard condemned the alleged order and accused the UK of imposing a gag order to prevent Apple from acknowledging it. In response, Apple announced it would remove its Advanced Data Protection feature from UK iPhones, although it has not confirmed any government order or legal filings.
Musk praised Apple's potential legal action against the UK, despite his past criticisms of the company's privacy practices, particularly regarding its partnership with OpenAI. The alleged UK order focuses on cloud data access, not AI, which Musk has also criticized. Apple maintains its commitment to privacy, reiterating that it has never created a backdoor for government access to user data and does not intend to do so. The company emphasizes that privacy remains a core principle of its products and services.
Key takeaways:
Elon Musk supports Apple's potential legal action against the UK over an alleged "secret" order for data access to iPhones.
The UK government is accused of issuing a gag order to prevent Apple from acknowledging the alleged data access order.
Apple plans to remove its Advanced Data Protection from UK iPhones following the controversy.
Musk has previously criticized Apple's privacy practices, but now praises their stance against the alleged UK order.
