French regulator fines Apple $162 million for anticompetitive use of privacy tool

Apple was fined €150 million ($162 million) by French regulators on Monday for anticompetitive practices involving how it deploys an app tracking tool protecting users from targeted advertising.

The French Competition Authority (FCA) alleges that Apple exploited its dominance in the mobile app advertising market between 2021 and 2023 through its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) mechanism, which lets iPhone and iPad users determine when apps can monitor their online activity. 

The tool compels apps to get user consent before gathering their data for targeted advertising.

The regulator said the ATT’s purpose was not itself a problem but the way in which the tool was “implemented was neither necessary nor proportionate to Apple’s stated objective of protecting personal data.”

The tool harmed small publishers that are financially dependent on third-party data collection, the regulator said, because the feature’s design bombarding users of third-party apps with pop-up windows requesting consent were annoying enough to create an unfair market advantage.

Apple reportedly resold the personal data it gathered from consumers who consented to the tracking, profiting off of its use for advertising. But those advertising revenues were not as readily available to third-party apps because of the “excessively complex” pop-ups they were saddled with. By comparison, Apple’s app users merely had to check a box.

The French regulator, which did not mandate that Apple alter ATT, said the “rules governing the interaction between the different pop-up windows undermined the neutrality of the framework, causing definite economic harm to application publishers and service providers.”

Apple’s rivals and advertisers complained that the tool amounted to an abuse of the company’s dominant market position.

The fine is a pittance for Apple, which posted $124 billion in revenue in the final quarter of 2024.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment but told Agence France-Presse that while it was “disappointed with today's decision, the French Competition Authority has not required any specific changes to ATT."