Italy has fined Apple almost 100 million euros
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The Italian antitrust authority (AGCM) has fined the American technology giant. Apple and two of its divisions for 98.6 million euros for alleged abuse of a dominant position in the mobile app market. The company said it would appeal the decision. This was reported by Reuters.

The regulator stated that the group allegedly violated European rules regarding Apple's App Store, where it has "absolute dominance" in its interactions with third-party developers.

The AGCM launched an investigation into Apple in May 2023. The regulator stated that since April 2021, the company has applied stricter privacy rules to third-party app developers, effectively putting them at a disadvantage.

In its statement, Apple said it strongly disagrees with the regulator's decision because, in the company's opinion, it ignores key privacy safeguards embedded in the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) requirements.

At the same time, AGCM stated that Apple required third-party developers to obtain separate user consent for the collection and combination of data for advertising purposes in accordance with the ATT rules established by the company itself.

"The terms of the ATT policy are imposed unilaterally, they harm the interests of Apple's business partners and are not proportionate to achieving the goal of privacy, as the company claims," the regulator said in a statement.

In addition, developers were forced to re-solicit user consent for the same purpose.

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Apple explained that the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) mechanism was introduced to give users a simple and clear tool to control whether companies can track their activity in other apps and on websites. The company emphasized that these rules apply equally to all developers, including Apple.

The AGCM stated that the investigation was complex and was conducted in coordination with the European Commission and other international antitrust regulators.

  • Apple was fined under the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA), which aims to curb anti-competitive behavior by large technology companies.
  • On April 23, the European Commission imposed fines for violating the law on the Digital Markets Act (DMA) for American tech giants Apple and Meta.
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