French antitrust watchdog issues statement of objection over Apple app tracking

PARIS, July 25 (Reuters) – France’s antitrust authority said on Tuesday it had issued a statement of opposition against Apple (AAPL.O)citing concerns that the US tech company may have violated regulations related to the use of iPhone user data for advertising purposes.

The watchdog is concerned that Apple is “abusing its dominant position by putting in place discriminatory, non-objective, and non-transparent conditions for the use of user data for advertising purposes,” it said in a statement.

The statement triggers an antitrust proceeding where the company can air its views, the watchdog said.

Apple denied the allegation. The mechanism “gives users more control by requiring all apps to request permission before tracking them,” the company said in an emailed statement, adding that it “will continue to engage constructively” with the French regulator.

Four French online advertising industry groups filed an antitrust lawsuit in 2020 against Apple over changes the company made to privacy features when it began asking iPhone owners if they were willing to allow apps to collect data used to set and send targeted ads, called App Tracking Transparency (ATT).

The feature has resulted in lower revenue for publishers, industry lobby groups have said.

The four associations – IAB France, MMAF, SRI and UDECAM – said Apple’s changes violated European Union privacy rules, citing that while the opt-in mechanism applied to third-party developers, Apple’s own apps did not include it.

“Apple’s apps do not display an ATT prompt because they don’t track, which means they don’t link user or device data with user or device data collected from other companies’ apps, websites, or offline properties for the purposes of targeted advertising or advertising measurement, or share user or device data with data brokers,” Apple said.

“Apple maintains its advertising business at a higher level of privacy than it requires of any other developer,” the company added.

Reporting by Tassilo Hummel and Mathieu Rosemain; Editing by Susan Fenton, Mark Porter and Nick Macfie

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