Italy Fines Apple €98.6 Million Over Att Rules Limiting App Store...

The Italian Competition Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, or AGCM) said the company's "absolute dominant position" in app distribution allowed it to "unilaterally impose" the ATT rules on third-party app developers, without consulting with them beforehand. The investigation was launched in May 2023.

Specifically, this requires developers to serve both ATT- and GDPR-related permission prompts in apps for iPhone and iPad users in the E.U. to seek user permission before processing their data for personalized ads. In contrast, Apple's own apps and services can obtain this permission in a single tap.

Apple introduced ATT in 2021 as a way for mobile apps to seek users' explicit consent in order to access their device's unique advertising identifier for tracking them across apps and websites for targeted advertising.

Apple is also facing similar probes in Poland and Romania. Earlier this month, Germany's antitrust authority said it was testing Apple's proposed changes to ATT, which included changes to the text and formatting of the consent prompt while maintaining "core user benefits."

The company is said to have agreed to introduce neutral consent prompts for both its own services and third-party apps, in addition to simplifying the consent process so that developers can obtain user permission in a manner that complies with data protection law.

Source: The Hacker News