The Authority has ascertained restrictive conduct of competition regarding App Tracking Transparency, the function with which the user can block any tracking by apps downloaded through the App Store. Apple: «This feature has been welcomed by our customers and praised by privacy advocates. Now intense pressure may force us to withdraw it.”
Every time we download an app from the Apple Store, a pop up appears as soon as we open it for the first time. It asks us if we want to be tracked or not. That is, whether or not the company that developed that app has permission to collect data about us, our behaviors and our activities, and then monetize them. An additional privacy shield which Apple introduced in 2021 and which has been a long time coming under investigation by the Italian antitrust. Which has now come to a decision (here is the document). It’s about abuse of dominant position. And it translates into a penalty of over 98 million euros.
The function is called App Tracking Transparency and when it was launched it was met with strong discontent on the part of those who have based their business on the collection and sale of data. One above all: Meta. Which results as «reporting» in the Italian Antitrust investigation. Zuckerberg’s company turned to the authority «during a hearing on September 27, 2022» to «challenge Apple’s decision to apply rules for obtaining consent from the user to the tracking of their personal data». But not only the big giants have rebelled against the strong restriction imposed – Apple has always declared – to protect users. In Germany, for example, a group of technology companies immediately turned to the local antitrust authorities, complaining about an inevitable loss of advertising revenue. While, returning to Italy and the Antitrust decision, the provision states that in 2024 it was asked to 1959 Italian developersactive on Apple platforms, to explain how the feature had impacted their business model. One was requested consultancy also for Italian publishers and the sector association Iab Italia.
The complex investigation by the Italian Agcm, conducted in coordination with the European Commission. with other national competition authorities and with the Guarantor for the protection of personal data, came to the conclusion that «the conditions of the App Tracking Transparency are imposed unilaterally, are detrimental to the interests of trading partners of Apple and are not proportionate to achieve the privacy objective.”
In other words, in Italy and in the European Union User privacy is guaranteed by compliance with the GDPRthe regulation for the protection of personal data, since 2018. Imposing – thanks to a dominant position, i.e. the ownership and management of the App Store – a further restriction such as blocking any tracking which allows App Tracking Transparency it is harmful to another company right. A commercial right to be able to earn in a legally permissible way through data collection. «Apple – we read again in the Agcm note – it should have guaranteed the same level of user privacy by providing the possibility for developers to obtain consent to profiling in a single solution».
The fine amounts precisely to 98,635,416.67 euros and is justified by the violation of Article 102 of the Tfue regarding the market for the supply to developers of platforms for the online distribution of apps for users of the iOS operating system. Already a few weeks ago, Apple had declared in a note his point of view strongly opposed to the investigation and in which reference was made to the appreciation of the function by those who use their devices. According to a study commissioned by the same company, 75 percent of iOS users support it and 75 percent of Android users would like it: «At Apple, we believe privacy is a fundamental human right and we created App Tracking Transparency to give users an easy way to control whether companies can track their activity across other apps and websites. This feature has been welcomed by our customers and praised by privacy advocates and by data protection authorities around the world. It is no surprise that the tracking industry continues to thwart our efforts to give users control over their data and now the intense pressure being exerted in Italy and other European countries they may force us to withdraw this feature to the detriment of European consumers. We will continue to urge the relevant authorities in Italy and across Europe to allow Apple to continue providing this important privacy tool to our users.”
