Report from Reuters
In Brief – Poland’s antitrust agency, the UOKiK, is the latest regulator to announce a formal investigation of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy that requires all third-party apps to get explicit approval from iPhone users to collect online browsing data for use in digital advertising. The regulator believes that the policy, which imposes burdens on third-party app developers that are not imposed on Apple’s own apps, may constitute an abuse of dominant position by the iPhone giant. UOKiK President Tomasz Chrostny said that the ATT policy “may have misled users about the level of privacy protection while simultaneously increasing Apple’s competitive advantage over independent publishers.” When Apple announced the ATT policy in 2020, they billed it as a major step forward for user privacy, but the move was challenged by many in the ad industry as a way for Apple to harm competitors and grow its own ad business, which has been expanding. Apple has consistently claimed that its apps do not collect data when users engage on apps from other providers, but critics argue that Apple combines user data from its App Store, Apple ID, connected devices, and other first-party apps and uses it for advertising purposes.
Context – Similar antitrust investigations have also been initiated in Germany, France, Italy, and Romania. In February, Germany’s FCO announced that it too suspects that Apple’s ATT policy does not treat third-party app developers as is required by the country’s special antitrust regime for the largest digital platforms, which includes Apple. In late March, after years of review, France’s antitrust agency announced that it has fined Apple 150 million euros for the discriminatory implementation of the ATT. The French regulator determined that while the goal of the iPhone giant’s policy is not itself objectionable, it was implemented in a manner that imposes undue user burdens third-party app developers that are not imposed on Apple’s own apps. Apple recently said it might turn off the ATT feature in Europe due to regulatory pressure that it attributes to ad industry lobbying.