The UK’s data watchdog has launched an investigation into iPhone maker Apple after a whistleblower claimed the company was accessing personal information on its employees phones.

The 54-page complaint has been filed with ICO and its Belgian counterpart. In it, Ashley Gjøvik, a former senior Apple engineer,  claims that she publicly expressed concerns about Apple “pressuring its employees to participate in invasive data collection procedures, including scans of ears/ear canals”..

She claims that unlawful data collection and invasive privacy practices have been ongoing across “multiple countries” for years.

Gjøvik also claims that Apple used an app on employees’ iPhones that “automatically took photos/videos whenever it ‘thought it saw a face'”.

The complaint, which ended with Gjøvik asking that data watchdogs “investigate the matters I raised and open a larger investigation into these topics within Apple’s corporate offices globally”. The former engineer also submitted the complaint to the Data Protection Commission in Ireland and London-based Big Brother Watch, the privacy campaigning organisation.

In response, an ICO spokesperson said: “We are aware of this matter and we will assess the information provided.”

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Gjøvik claims that her concerns around data privacy practices were raised as early as March last year, specifically related to Apple’s policies on it can search and monitor workers’ phones.

She has also claims to have faced bullying and harassment from her manager and other colleagues, in a campaign that has been dubbed Apple’s “MeToo” moment.

This is thought to be the first time that she has tried to take her battle against the notoriously secretive tech giant to the UK.

Gjøvik was fired by Apple last September for allegedly violating the company’s rules against leaking confidential information.

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