Italy’s competition authority has slapped a €98.6 million (about $116 million) fine on Apple for abusing its dominant App Store position by imposing an “excessively burdensome” double-consent requirement on third-party app developers via its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) privacy framework, forcing them to request tracking and GDPR consents separately in ways that regulators say harm competition and disadvantage developers reliant on ad revenue, and Apple has announced it will appeal the ruling.
Sources: Bit Defender, Reuters
Key Takeaways
Italy’s antitrust regulator, the AGCM, ruled that Apple’s ATT policy creates a “double consent” burden that disproportionately affects third-party developers and restricts competition.
The fine of €98.6 million is part of broader European scrutiny of Apple’s App Store policies, following similar actions in France and ongoing probes in other jurisdictions.
Apple defends ATT as a core privacy protection and plans to appeal, asserting that the rules apply equally to all developers and serve user privacy.
In-Depth
Italy’s antitrust authority has taken decisive action against Apple’s App Store practices, issuing a €98.6 million fine (around $116 million) that targets what regulators characterize as unfair competition stemming from the company’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) privacy feature. At the heart of the dispute is the way ATT interacts with European Union privacy standards — notably the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) — in a manner that requires third-party app developers to ask users for data-tracking consent twice. According to the Italian Competition Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, AGCM), this double-consent requirement results in an “excessively burdensome” process that hampers developers’ ability to engage in personalized advertising, disproportionately affecting smaller apps that rely on such revenue streams.
The regulator determined that Apple’s implementation of ATT, which it introduced with iOS in 2021, unfairly favors Apple’s own first-party apps by simplifying consent, while third-party apps must navigate more cumbersome steps that potentially lead to lower opt-in rates. Italy’s action is part of a broader wave of regulatory scrutiny across the European Union, where Apple has faced similar fines — including a €150 million penalty from French authorities earlier in 2025 — and ongoing investigations in countries such as Germany and Poland into various aspects of its app ecosystem rules.
From Apple’s perspective, ATT remains a cornerstone of its privacy strategy, designed to return control to users over how their data is tracked across apps and websites. The company maintains that ATT applies equally to all developers and that the fines overlook the privacy benefits the feature delivers to consumers. Apple has publicly stated its intention to appeal the Italian ruling, framing the decision as undermining privacy protections that have been widely embraced by users and privacy advocates. The broader regulatory clash reflects a tension between strong privacy initiatives and competition law enforcement, with regulators in Europe increasingly wary of dominant technology platforms leveraging privacy features in ways that may stifle competition.
While Italy’s penalty does not directly overturn ATT, it signals a willingness among EU authorities to challenge even well-publicized privacy tools when their implementation appears to disadvantage commercial partners or distort market dynamics. Developers and advertisers watching this situation closely will likely reassess how they navigate consent frameworks and advocate for more balanced regulatory outcomes that protect both user privacy and fair market access. Apple’s appeal process and any subsequent adjustments to ATT under regulatory pressure will be significant to the future landscape of app privacy and competition in the EU.