Italy Fines Apple $116 Million for Double-Consent Requirement

The Italian competition authority says Apple abused its super-dominant position by forcing app developers to get user consent for targeted ad tracking.

A general view of the first Italian flagship Apple store in Milan on July 26, 2018. Piero Cruciatti/AFP/Getty Images

The Italian competition authority, Italy’s equivalent of the Federal Trade Commission, fined Apple Inc. nearly $116 million for what it said were restrictive privacy rules that harmed third-party app developers.

The watchdog authority—known as the AGCM—said on Dec. 22 that Apple, Apple Distribution International Ltd., and Apple Italia S.r.l. abused its “super-dominant” market position in its mobile app environment by making third-party app developers obtain user consent for data collection and tracking for the purpose of delivering targeted advertising.

The fine stems from a joint investigation that began in May 2023 by the AGCM, European Commission, Italian Data Protection Authority (GPDP in Italian), and other national competition authorities into restrictions placed on third-party developers by Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework.

According to the AGCM, Apple in April 2021 began requiring app developers to obtain user consent in addition to consent that had already been granted through Apple’s own consent prompt.

This double-consent requirement violated article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the AGCM said.

“Third-party app developers are required to obtain specific consent for the collection and linking of data for advertising purposes through Apple’s ATT prompt,” the AGCM said. “However, such prompt does not meet privacy legislation requirements, forcing developers to double the consent request for the same purpose.”

In an executive summary of the investigation’s findings, the Italian Competition Authority of Rome lauded Apple’s efforts to safeguard user privacy within its operating system.

However, the GPDP said, making developers obtain double user consent was “excessive” and “burdensome” and ultimately led to a reduction of opt-in rates by users for data tracking on third-party apps. That action, in turn, hampered app developers’ ability to compete with Apple and deliver targeted advertising, which resulted in higher commissions paid to Apple by developers, as well as additional revenue through a higher volume of targeted ads.

“Given that user data are a key input for personalized online advertising—since higher-quality and larger volumes of data improve the ability to identify users who may be genuinely interested in the advertised product, service or app—the restrictions imposed by the ATT policy on the collection, linking and use of such data are capable of harming developers whose business model relies on the sale of advertising space, as well as advertisers and advertising intermediation platforms,” the AGCM wrote.

The Epoch Times requested comment from Apple regarding the investigation’s finding and fine by the AGCM, but did not receive a response by publication time.

Earlier this year, Apple was fined 500 million euros ($588 million) by the European Union for breaching the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and not informing customers of potential alternatives outside of its App Store. Meta was also fined 200 million euros ($235 million) for breaching the DMA by failing to provide customers with options on how much of their data is used. Apple and Meta are appealing those fines, which were levied in April.