SUMMARYA former UK competition official filed a $2.7 billion lawsuit against Apple on behalf of app developers, alleging the company’s App Tracking Transparency rules unfairly favored Apple’s own advertising ecosystem. Regulators in France, Italy, Poland, and Germany have examined the policy, and Germany’s competition authority found Apple’s prompts could encourage consent for its own services while discouraging it for third-party apps. Apple has agreed to modify ATT in the European Union after a French fine last year.
A former UK competition official has filed a $2.7 billion lawsuit against Apple on behalf of app developers, alleging its App Tracking Transparency rules unfairly disadvantaged third-party apps while favoring Apple's own advertising ecosystem. Engadget reports: ATT debuted in 2021, ostensibly to give users more control over how much of their activity app developers can track across other apps and websites. The company told Reuters it was "bound by the exact same requirements as all developers."
However, regulators across Europe including in France, Italy and Poland have investigated ATT. Germany's competition regulator, the Federal Cartel Office, last month determined that Apple was favoring its own apps over those from external developers. It said the ATT pop-ups Apple used for its services "had the potential to encourage users to give their consent, whereas they had the potential to discourage consent for third-party apps."
As such, the company agreed to make some changes to how ATT works in the European Union. That follows the French Competition Authority fining Apple $175 million at current rates over ATT last year.