Apple (AAPL.O) has been hit with a €150 million ($162.4 million) fine by French antitrust regulators for abusing its dominant position in mobile app advertising through its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) tool. This marks the first fine against Apple’s ATT system, which limits app tracking on iPhones and iPads. The ruling follows the EU’s €1.8 billion antitrust penalty against Apple last year for restricting rival music streaming services on the App Store.
Despite concerns of U.S. retaliation, French Competition Authority head Benoit Coeuré emphasized that competition laws are applied “in an apolitical manner.” The regulator stated that while ATT aims to protect user privacy, its implementation unfairly disadvantaged smaller publishers reliant on third-party data for ad revenue. Apple, awaiting similar rulings in Germany, Italy, Poland, and Romania, expressed disappointment but noted that no changes to ATT were mandated.
Source: Swifteradio.com
