App Tracking Transparency Could Fall Foul of German Antitrust Rules ⇥ techcrunch.com

Natasha Lomas, TechCrunch:

Germany’s antitrust watchdog has been investigating Apple’s app privacy framework since 2022. On Thursday, releasing preliminary findings from this probe, the Bundeskartellamt (FCO) said it suspects the iPhone maker may not be treating third-party app developers as equally as the law requires.

The antitrust watchdog said it believes Apple’s behavior could amount to self-preferencing. Apple is banned from preferring its own services and products in Germany since April 2023, when it became subject to special abuse controls aimed at regulating big tech’s market power.

The Bundeskartellamt says a ruling to Apple’s appeal over the April 2023 decision is expected in March. So far, its findings over App Tracking Transparency remain “preliminary”; it says “Apple now has the opportunity to comment on the allegations”.

Zac Hall, of 9to5Mac, received a statement from Apple reading, in part:

Apple has led the way in developing industry leading technologies to provide users great features without compromising privacy. App Tracking Transparency gives users more control of their privacy through a required, clear, and easy-to-understand prompt about one thing: tracking. That prompt is consistent for all developers, including Apple, and we have received strong support for this feature from consumers, privacy advocates, and data protection authorities around the world.

This does not meaningfully address the German authority’s concerns, which are based on the way Apple defines “tracking” as exclusively a third-party phenomenon. Apple collects highly granular data about users’ interactions with its internet services and associates it with their Apple ID. It allows precise ad targeting. I would expect people to have more comfort around first-party collection than third-party, but Apple’s own definition of “tracking” excludes these behaviours.

I hope the resolution here creates better privacy protections for all users, not by relaxing App Tracking Transparency.