LONDON — Apple is fighting a British government order for the iPhone maker to provide so-called backdoor access to its encrypted cloud storage service, a U.K. court confirmed Monday.

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal revealed the legal battle when it rejected a bid by Britain’s Home Office to have the case heard in private.

Apple had said in February that it would stop offering its end-to-end encryption feature for British users after the government reportedly issued the demand, which raised fears of electronic spying.

The tribunal said disclosure of “bare details,” such as the existence of the case, “would not be damaging to the public interest or prejudicial to national security.” — Associated Press