Italy just dropped a massive fine on Apple, hitting them for nearly one hundred million euros. The country's antitrust body ruled that Apple abused its dominant market position with its App Tracking Transparency feature. The specific problem, according to regulators, was a "double consent" rule. They said Apple forced third-party app developers to show its own tracking permission pop-up, while those developers still had to run their own separate prompts to follow broader EU privacy law. This made developers ask users for the same thing twice, which Italy called unfair and disproportionate.
The investigation found this move hurt Apple's commercial partners. After the ATT rule started, user consent rates dropped, which slashed advertising money for outside developers. Meanwhile, Apple's own advertising business got to keep operating under much easier rules. The watchdog stated this was an exploitative abuse of power, even while acknowledging that user privacy is a legitimate goal. They just said Apple could have protected privacy without being so heavy-handed. Along with the cash penalty, Apple has to stop the conduct and file a compliance report soon.
This is just the latest legal headache for Apple in Europe. France issued a similar, even larger fine over the same tracking policy earlier. The EU also recently fined Apple hundreds of millions for breaking digital competition laws. A separate lawsuit in the United States, from X Corp and X.AI, also accuses Apple of anti-competitive behavior with its OpenAI deal. Despite all the flak from companies and regulators, some research suggests the privacy push has had a side benefit, linking increased user opt-outs to a measurable drop in financial fraud complaints.
The investigation found this move hurt Apple's commercial partners. After the ATT rule started, user consent rates dropped, which slashed advertising money for outside developers. Meanwhile, Apple's own advertising business got to keep operating under much easier rules. The watchdog stated this was an exploitative abuse of power, even while acknowledging that user privacy is a legitimate goal. They just said Apple could have protected privacy without being so heavy-handed. Along with the cash penalty, Apple has to stop the conduct and file a compliance report soon.
This is just the latest legal headache for Apple in Europe. France issued a similar, even larger fine over the same tracking policy earlier. The EU also recently fined Apple hundreds of millions for breaking digital competition laws. A separate lawsuit in the United States, from X Corp and X.AI, also accuses Apple of anti-competitive behavior with its OpenAI deal. Despite all the flak from companies and regulators, some research suggests the privacy push has had a side benefit, linking increased user opt-outs to a measurable drop in financial fraud complaints.
