The French antitrust regulator has fined Apple 150 million euros after an investigation into the company's user data collection methods and its influence on advertisers, Bloomberg reports.
The French Competition Authority has said that Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) system prevents developers from complying with the European GDPR, and instead forces apps to display numerous pop-ups to users, making them difficult to use.
Apple expressed disappointment with the regulator's decision, noting that it did not require specific changes to the ATT system. The company emphasized that the system gives users more control over their privacy through clear and concise prompts.
Meanwhile, the plaintiffs, a group of trade associations representing advertisers, called on the company to "immediately suspend" the system and make appropriate changes to it. The regulator also said that Apple's ATT system is "neither necessary nor proportionate." The system itself is not considered problematic, but the way it is implemented is "an abuse within the meaning of antitrust law."
The investigation was opened after a group of advertisers filed a complaint with the regulator, claiming that changes to the data collection system that came into effect in 2021 were hurting their revenue. The regulator was investigating whether Apple was applying less stringent rules to itself than to others. Similar investigations are also underway in Germany, Poland, Italy and Romania.
This outcome may interest US President Donald Trump, who has criticized European regulators for their constant investigations of American companies. It recently became known that because of such statements by Trump, the European Union plans to impose minimal fines on Apple, Google and other American companies.