London, Feb. 15 -- International human rights organisations including Human Rights Watch (HRW) have condemned a recent order by the United Kingdom government demanding Apple provide access to encrypted user data.

The order, reportedly issued by the UK Home Office in January 2025, targets Apple's Advanced Data Protection feature, which employs end-to-end encryption to secure cloud-stored data.

"The United Kingdom government's order to Apple to allow access to encrypted cloud data harms the privacy rights of users in the UK and worldwide," Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said in a press release on Friday.

It added, "The UK government order is an attempt to force Apple to provide access to encrypted user data, including devic...