France Hits Apple With $162 Million Penalty Over App Tracking Transparency
Credit: Apple
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France’s Competition Authority (Autorité de la Concurrence) has hit Apple with a €150 million ($162 million) fine over the implementation of the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework, reports Bloomberg.
The French regulatory agency concluded that Apple’s deployment of the framework abused its market dominance and overly complicated the process for users to opt out of being tracked, putting third-party advertisers and developers at an unfair disadvantage.
Apple released the ATT framework alongside iOS 14.5 in 2021. The framework requires apps to display a pop-up dialog asking users to consent to have their activity tracked across other apps and websites. If users say no, the app is barred from accessing the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA), which is used to deliver more personalized ads.
The regulator, the Autorité de la Concurrence, stressed that while Apple’s ATT framework isn’t necessarily anticompetitive, the company’s implementation resulted in a loss of its neutrality.
In its decision, published on Monday, the regulator said that Apple’s app tracking transparency framework was “neither necessary nor proportionate to the company’s stated goal to protect user data.”
It said that while the framework was not “problematic” by itself, the way it was implemented was “abusive within the meaning of competition law.”
The authority also claims that Apple’s method of prompting for consent introduced unnecessary friction for third-party developers. Apple offers its own advertising services, which are integrated into iOS and do not have the same requirements, making it appear Apple was leveraging its platform control to favor its own ad service.
The authority’s decision also said there were economic consequences for app developers, publishers, and advertising providers. Many developers of free, ad-supported apps depend on targeted advertising for their revenue, and the authority says the ATT in its current form had caused economic harm to smaller app publishers that had access to only a limited amount of first-party data.
The Autorité de la Concurrence launched the ATT investigation in 2021 following complaints lodged by a group of French advertising trade associations, including Alliance Digitale and the Internet Advertising Syndicate. While the authority refused to impose any emergency measures in 2021, it did launch a full investigation into the ATT system and its effect on competition.
The final ruling requires Apple to pay a €150 million fine and publish the decision on its public website for seven days.
For its part, Apple released a statement defending its actions and repeating its commitment to user privacy:
App Tracking Transparency gives users more control of their privacy through a required, clear, and easy-to-understand prompt about one thing: tracking. That prompt is consistent for all developers, including Apple, and we have received strong support for this feature from consumers, privacy advocates, and data protection authorities around the world.
Apple also noted that the onus to ensure compliance with competition law has been placed squarely on its back, as the French authority has not mandated any specific changes to the ATT system. Apple also said it was disappointed with the authority’s decision, although it did not say whether it plans to appeal the fine.
Apple has previously stated that the rules give users “more control by requiring all apps to ask permission before tracking them.” The iPhone maker also said it complies with EU rules.
The ruling is just the latest on a growing list of investigations into the ATT framework by European countries. Authorities in Germany, Italy, Romania, and Poland have opened similar probes.
