France’s competition regulator Autorité de la concurrence has fined Apple €150m for “abusing its dominant position in the sector for mobile application advertising on iOS and iPadOS terminals” with its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) system between 2021 to 2023.

The Autorité has deemed the company’s ATT framework was neither necessary nor proportionate, leading to:

• An artificially complex framework that specifically penalises publishers of third-party applications in the iOS environment
• Operating rules that undermine the neutrality of the framework
• Asymmetry of treatment between Apple and publishers

In its decision, the Autorité said that although the introduction of the system has impacted all application publishers, the framework has been particularly harmful for smaller publishers that do not enjoy alternative targeting possibilities, in particular in the absence of sufficient proprietary data.

According to the head of the watchdog Benoît Coeuré, the fine is reasonable and appropriate.

Photo credits: Autorité de la concurrence