Italy’s antitrust authority has imposed a substantial €98.6 million ($116 million) penalty on Apple Inc. for implementing privacy features that allegedly stifle competition within its App Store ecosystem. The regulatory body determined that Apple exploited its market dominance through the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy, which mandates applications to secure user consent before gathering data for personalized advertising purposes.
Introduced in April 2021 as part of iOS and iPadOS updates, the ATT framework was ostensibly designed to enhance user privacy protections. However, investigators found that Apple’s implementation created an uneven playing field by imposing disproportionate compliance burdens on third-party developers. Unlike Apple’s own advertising services, external app developers must obtain dual consent from users to adhere to Europe’s stringent privacy regulations.
Regulators emphasized that their criticism targets not the privacy policy itself, but rather its discriminatory implementation. The double consent requirement disproportionately harms developers whose business models rely on advertising revenue, while simultaneously disadvantaging advertisers and advertising intermediation platforms. This marks the second such penalty in Europe, following France’s €150 million fine against Apple in March 2023 for similar antitrust violations regarding consent mechanisms.
Apple previously defended its privacy framework when Italian authorities initiated their investigation in 2023, expressing commitment to addressing regulatory concerns. The technology giant has not issued an immediate response to Monday’s ruling. Industry analysts observe that this decision reinforces the growing pattern of European regulators challenging Big Tech’s business practices under both privacy and competition legislation.