- Apple was beaten with a fine of more than € 150 million in France on Monday, March 31, 2025
- The France anti -proteating control agency found the Apple Applications Transparency Transparency Framework “neither necessary nor provided”
- Apple launched ATT in April 2021 to help users manage applications data monitoring permissions
Apple has been fined in France for its privacy framework that helps users to stay aware of third -party online monitoring.
The France’s anti -proteole control agency issued a fine of more than 150 million euros on Monday, March 31, 2025, after finding Apple’s Application Monitoring Transparency Framework “neither necessary nor proportional”.
Apple launched ATT in April 2021 to facilitate users to manage data monitoring permits. Despite looking like a positive movement for people’s online privacy, the Guardian dog of France discovered that the implementation could penalize smaller applications editors.
“An artificially complex framework”
The authorité of the Concurrence (France Competition Authority) decided to issue the fine against Apple “for abusing its dominant position in the sector for the distribution of mobile applications in iOS and iPados devices between April 2021 and July 2023,” wrote the regulator in an official statement.
Starting in iOS 14.5, Ipados 14.5 and Tvos 14.5, Apple’s ATT function requires that all applications obtain the explicit consent of users before collecting data and directing them with personalized ads.
While the French guard dog does not find the Att per se frame, describes its implementation as necessary or proportional to Apple’s established objective to protect personal data.
Specifically, regulators found that this emerging consent system leads to an “artificially complex framework” for users that penalizes third -party application editors when operating in the iOS environment.
This is because emerging ATT consent windows, the group explains, are not valid under the French data protection law. This means that third -party users will have to ask permission twice from their users.
The authorité also criticized the rules for which users must reject advertising follow -up only once, but they must always confirm their consent twice. This, according to the group, de facto undermines the neutrality of informed consent that ATT is supposed to facilitate.
In addition, “although the editors had to obtain the double consent of the users for the monitoring of third -party sites and applications, Apple did not request the consent of the users of their own applications (until the implementation of iOS 15),” wrote the authorité, pointing out the disproportionate treatment between Apple and third -party developers.
When commenting on Associated Press, Apple said that ATT gives users a more “privacy control through a required request, clear and easy to understand about one thing: monitoring”, which is consistent for all developers, including Apple.
“We have received strong support for this characteristic of consumers, the defenders of privacy and the data protection authorities around the world,” Apple also told The Associated Press, adding that the France’s competence authority has not required any specific change in ATT.
Not only France
This is not the first time that Apple’s ATT has attracted criticism in Europe either.
In 2023, the Italian antimonopoopoly control agency accused the American technological giant of abusing its market domain by applying more restrictive and disadvantageous data privacy policies to Apple applications.
Similar actions can continue through European blockade as the new rules of the Digital Markets Law are expected to increase competition requirements for large technology suppliers.
