Italy Fines Apple Nearly €100m Over App Privacy Feature

Italy’s competition authority on Monday said it had fined US tech giant Apple €98 million ($115 million) for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the mobile app market.

The Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) said Apple violated privacy regulations for third-party developers in a market where it “holds a super-dominant position through its App Store.”

The AGCM said its investigation established the “restrictive nature” of the privacy rules imposed by Apple on third-party developers of apps distributed through the App Store.

According to the statement, Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) rules “are imposed unilaterally and harm the interests of Apple’s commercial partners.”

Earlier this year, French antitrust authorities also fined Apple €150 million over the same app tracking privacy feature.

Authorities in other parts of Europe have launched similar probes over ATT, which Apple markets as a privacy safeguard.

Introduced in 2021, ATT requires apps to obtain user consent through a pop-up window before tracking activity across other apps and websites. If users decline, the app loses access to information that enables ad targeting.

Critics have accused Apple of using ATT to promote its own advertising services while restricting competitors.