Apple is facing increasing pressure in Europe. In Italy, the national competition authority has imposed a hefty fine on the company. The accusation is that Apple abused its dominant market position in the App Store. At the heart of the matter is the privacy feature App Tracking Transparency, which Apple has been promoting for years. The decision is not only relevant for Apple, but also for developers and regulatory authorities in other EU countries.
The Italian competition authority, Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM), launched a formal investigation against Apple in May 2023. At the time, there were suspicions that Apple imposed stricter data protection requirements on third-party developers than it did on itself.
Specifically, the discussion focused on the rules surrounding App Tracking Transparency, a feature Apple introduced with iOS 14.5. It is designed to allow users to decide whether apps are allowed to track their activity across different applications and websites.
App Tracking Transparency and the Role of Apple
App Tracking Transparency, often abbreviated as ATT, is a central element of Apple's privacy strategy. Developers must display a system-wide notification the first time their app is launched. In this dialog, the user decides whether or not to allow tracking. This decision directly impacts personalized advertising and data-driven business models.
According to the AGCM, Apple uses its dominant position in the App Store to strictly enforce these guidelines against third-party developers. At the same time, Apple does not apply the same rules to its own apps in the same way. The agency stated that this discrepancy was confirmed during its investigation.
The AGCM stated that Apple was abusing its absolute dominance in developer relationships. The ATT guidelines were unilaterally imposed and harmed the interests of Apple's business partners. Furthermore, these conditions were disproportionate to Apple's stated goal of data privacy (via Reuters).
Apple's view on the allegations
Apple strongly disagrees with the Italian competition authority's assessment. The company argues that its apps do not display an ATT warning dialog because they do not record user activity for tracking purposes. From Apple's perspective, the directive therefore also applies internally, just without any technical reason for a query.
Following the announcement of the decision, Apple stated that it strongly disagreed with the ruling. Furthermore, the company accused the regulatory authority of ignoring essential data protection measures and the fundamental benefits of app tracking transparency.
The penalty and the specific conditions
Despite the objections, the AGCM imposed a $115 million fine on Apple. The 199-page ruling also contains further obligations.
Apple must immediately cease the practices deemed to be anti-competitive. Furthermore, the company is obligated to refrain from any future actions that would similarly violate Italian antitrust law.
Apple must inform the AGCM within 90 days how it intends to implement the agency's requirements. It remains unclear whether this deadline applies independently of the announced appeal proceedings or whether it is affected by them.
Appeal and possible delays
Apple has announced it will appeal the decision. It is currently unclear how long this process will take. It is considered likely that the $115 million payment will not be due until the appeal is concluded.
This leaves it unclear for now when the decision will finally become legally binding and what specific changes Apple will have to implement in the short term.
Looking to Europe: Further investigations
The case in Italy is not an isolated incident. A similar antitrust investigation into App Tracking Transparency is currently underway in Poland. This investigation was launched in November 2025 and followed an earlier investigation by the Polish competition authority in 2021, which may not yet be concluded.
This shows that Apple's handling of App Tracking Transparency and App Store policy is also being critically examined in other EU countries.
Apple and Europe's competition authorities in ongoing conflict
The Italian fine marks another conflict between Apple and European competition authorities. At its core, the issue revolves around whether data protection measures are truly applied neutrally or whether they disadvantage competitors. The announced appeal, the ongoing sanctions, and similar proceedings in other countries indicate that the issue of app tracking transparency will continue to occupy Apple in Europe for some time to come. (Image: Shutterstock / VILTVART)
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