France’s antitrust watchdog, the Autorité de la Concurrence, has fined Apple Inc. €150 million ($162 million) following a probe into the company’s practices regarding the collection of iOS users’ data and its impact on advertisers, as per Bloomberg.
The regulator concluded that Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) system prevents app publishers from fully complying with Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The Autorité de la Concurrence stated that the ATT system forces apps to display multiple pop-ups, making their use excessively complex.
In its decision, published on Monday, the French regulator deemed Apple’s app tracking transparency framework as “neither necessary nor proportionate.” While the framework itself was not considered “problematic,” the implementation was characterized as “abusive within the meaning of competition law.”
This decision could draw the attention of US President Donald Trump, who has previously warned of retaliatory tariffs against “disproportionate” penalties against American tech companies.
The investigation focused on whether Apple applied less stringent rules to its own services compared to those applied to other services. The case was initiated following a complaint from a group of advertisers who alleged that the changes, which took effect in 2021, would negatively impact their revenues.
Apple has maintained that the ATT rules give users “more control by requiring all apps to ask permission before tracking them” and that the company complies with EU rules. The company, based in Cupertino, California, has yet to issue an official response to the fine.
