French Competition Authority fines Apple 150 million euros

On March 31, the French Competition Authority announced a fine of 150 million euros against Apple Inc. of the United States for abusing its dominant position in device-targeted advertising.

In a press release, the French Competition Authority pointed out that Apple released the “Application Tracking Transparency” mechanism in April 2021, claiming to protect personal data, but its implementation method was “neither necessary nor appropriate”. The mechanism is suspected of favoring Apple’s own services and damaging the interests of third-party applications.

The press release said that the mechanism makes the process of using third-party applications on iPhones and iPads too complicated, showing Apple’s “asymmetric” treatment of its own applications and third-party applications, which is particularly harmful to small application publishers.

The French Competition Authority said that the penalty was for Apple’s violations between April 2021 and July 2023. In addition to the fine, the authority also required Apple to publish a summary of the penalty decision on its website for seven consecutive days.

After the French Competition Authority announced the penalty against Apple, industry associations representing all parties involved in online advertising issued a joint statement welcoming the decision. The statement said: “This decision marks a major victory for the 9,000 companies in the online media and advertising ecosystem, as well as all other mobile ecosystem players whose revenues, business models and strategies are severely affected by Apple’s mechanism.”