Apple Faces Billion-Dollar Biometric Suit and UK Encryption Battle

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit denied an appeal by Apple Inc. on Thursday, upholding a ruling that allows a class-action lawsuit to proceed in Illinois. The litigation alleges the company violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act by collecting faceprints, eye scans, and voiceprints without proper consent. Approximately 6.5 million consumers could seek damages of $5,000 each, creating a potential liability of $32.5 billion. While Apple argues its Photos app uses numerical vectors that cannot recreate faces, plaintiffs claim the company stored faceprints on cloud-based servers without user knowledge.

Simultaneously, the company is engaged in a legal conflict with the Government of the United Kingdom over encrypted iCloud data. Apple filed a challenge in July 2026 at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal against a technical capability notice that would require the company to create a back door to bypass end-to-end encryption. This dispute follows a 2025 incident where Apple withdrew its Advanced Data Protection program for UK customers after similar government demands.

Apple maintains that creating such access would weaken security for all users. The UK Home Office asserts that the Investigatory Powers Act includes necessary safeguards. Privacy International and Liberty have launched parallel complaints regarding the lawfulness of the notice regime, with a case management hearing scheduled for next month.