Italy’s Competition Authority (AGCM) has fined Apple and two of its divisions 98.6 million euros (approximately $115.3 million). The regulator accuses Apple of abusing its dominant position in the mobile app market and alleges that the company violated European regulations concerning its App Store, where it is said to have “absolute dominance” in its interactions with third-party developers.
The investigation into Apple began in May 2023, with claims that the company imposed a more restrictive privacy policy on third-party app developers starting in April 2021. Apple has expressed strong disagreement with the decision, stating that it overlooks the important privacy protections provided by its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature.
AGCM points out that Apple mandated third-party developers to obtain specific consent for data collection and for linking data for advertising purposes through the ATT prompt.
According to the regulator, the terms of the ATT policy are unilaterally imposed, detrimental to Apple’s business partners, and disproportionate in achieving privacy objectives. They further noted that developers were required to duplicate consent requests for similar purposes, which raises compliance concerns.
Apple asserts that the ATT system was designed to give users control over whether companies can track their activity across other apps and websites. The company claims that these regulations are applied equally to all developers, including itself, and plans to appeal the regulator’s decision while reemphasizing its commitment to strong privacy protections.
The AGCM said that the investigation was complex and conducted in cooperation with the European Commission and other antitrust regulators.
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