Apple faces $162M fine in France over App Tracking Transparency practices

Apple has been hit with a significant fine of €150 million ($162.3 million) by France’s antitrust regulator, the Autorité de la concurrence, over concerns regarding its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework. The decision underscores growing scrutiny over Apple’s approach to data privacy and competition in the mobile app ecosystem.

The Autorité determined that Apple’s implementation of ATT between April 2021 and July 2023 unfairly leveraged its dominant position in the iOS and iPadOS ecosystems. While the regulator acknowledged Apple’s stated goal of enhancing user privacy, it found that the actual enforcement of ATT created an imbalanced competitive landscape.

According to the ruling, Apple’s policies imposed disproportionate restrictions on third-party app developers and advertisers, making it significantly harder for them to track user behavior while Apple itself benefited from less stringent restrictions on its own apps. The regulator argued that this approach was neither necessary nor proportionate to Apple’s privacy protection objectives.

Although Apple’s ATT framework itself has not been banned in France, the ruling mandates that Apple pay the fine and publicly display a summary of the decision on its website for seven consecutive days. This decision follows weeks of speculation that regulators were preparing a major ruling against ATT.

The investigation, which began in 2023, found that ATT had caused tangible economic harm, particularly to smaller app publishers and advertising service providers. These businesses, heavily reliant on third-party data collection, faced steep declines in ad revenue due to the increased difficulty of obtaining user consent. The complex opt-in process for third-party tracking, enforced by Apple, reportedly created an excessively restrictive environment on iOS, disproportionately impacting independent developers.

The investigation, which began in 2023, found that ATT had caused tangible economic harm, particularly to smaller app publishers and advertising service providers. These businesses, heavily reliant on third-party data collection, faced steep declines in ad revenue due to the increased difficulty of obtaining user consent. The complex opt-in process for third-party tracking, enforced by Apple, reportedly created an excessively restrictive environment on iOS, disproportionately impacting independent developers.