Italy’s competition authority said on Monday it has imposed a fine of 98.6 million euros ($115.53 million) on U.S. technology company Apple and two of its subsidiaries, citing an alleged abuse of dominance in the mobile applications market, according to Reuters.
The Italian Competition Authority, known as AGCM, said Apple holds what it described as an “absolute dominance” in its dealings with third-party developers through the App Store, per Reuters.
Regulators argued that this position allowed the company to impose conditions that may have breached European competition rules.
The investigation, which was launched in May 2023, focused on changes Apple introduced in April 2021 related to user data and advertising, according to Reuters. The watchdog said Apple applied a stricter privacy framework to third-party app developers while allegedly maintaining more favorable conditions for its own services.
At the center of the case is Apple’s App Tracking Transparency system, known as ATT. AGCM said Apple required external developers to request user consent for data collection and data linking for advertising via a standardized screen designed by Apple itself, per Reuters.
Regulators also said developers were required to repeat consent requests for the same purpose, increasing the burden on competitors.
“The terms of the ATT policy are imposed unilaterally, they are detrimental to the interests of Apple’s business partners and are not proportionate to achieving the objective of privacy, as claimed by the company,” the regulator said in a statement, adding that the process does not comply with privacy regulations.
AGCM said the investigation was particularly complex and was carried out in coordination with the European Commission and other international antitrust authorities, reflecting broader regulatory scrutiny of large technology companies operating in Europe, per Reuters.
