The Italian Competition and Markets Authority (AGCM) reported this Monday that it had fined the North American technology giant Apple and two of its divisions, in the amount of US$ 115.53 million, for alleged abuse of its dominant position in the mobile applications market.
The regulator said the group allegedly violated European regulations relating to Apple’s App Store, where it holds ‘absolute dominance’ in relationships with third-party developers.
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The watchdog began the investigation against the tech giant in May 2023, alleging that the company penalized third-party app developers by imposing ‘a more restrictive privacy policy’ on them from April 2021.
In a statement, Apple said it “strongly disagrees” with the decision, claiming it “disregards the important privacy protections” offered by the company’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature.
The AGCM stated that Apple required third-party developers to obtain specific consent to collect data and link data for advertising purposes through the company’s ATT screen.
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“The terms of the ATT policy are imposed unilaterally, harm the interests of Apple’s business partners, and are not proportionate to the privacy objective as claimed by the company,” the regulator said in a statement, adding that the process does not comply with privacy standards.
Furthermore, developers were forced to duplicate consent requests for the same purpose, he added.
ATT was created “to give users a simple way to control whether companies can track their activities on other apps and websites,” the technology company said, adding that the rules apply equally to all developers, including Apple.
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The company will appeal the regulator’s decision and reiterated its commitment to ‘upholding strong privacy protections’.
The AGCM said its investigation was complex and carried out in coordination with the European Commission and other international antitrust authorities.
