According to the latest report, the German antitrust agency “Federal Cartel Office” (FCO) said today that it is investigating Apple’s regulations on tracking third-party applications (Apps) to assess whether these regulations Give Apple itself preferential treatment, or hinder the business of other companies.
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FCO Director Andreas Mundt said: “We welcome data-friendly business models that give users choices about how their data is used. However, something like Apple can do in its ecosystem, especially in apps in the Store, companies that unilaterally set the rules should align those rules with the competition .”
Potentially problematic, the FCO said, was Apple’s Transparency in App Tracking (ATT) framework. Last April, Apple introduced a new privacy policy, ATT, in iOS 14.5. This is a mandatory policy that prohibits apps from tracking user activity across other apps without the user’s explicit permission.
Subsequently, nine industry associations representing Germany’s largest media, technology, and advertising companies filed a complaint with the FCO against Apple, saying that Apple’s adjustment to the iPhone’s privacy policy is a monopoly that will harm the advertising market.
The nine trade associations expect app developers to see a 60 percent drop in ad revenue as a result of Apple’s new policy, as the changes make it harder for third parties to collect the data they need to serve ads.
An Apple spokesperson said that Apple will work constructively with the FCO to resolve any issues and discuss its tracking rules. The spokesperson also said that AT&T does not prevent other companies from displaying ads while allowing users to control their own privacy.
In January last year, the German Bundestag passed amendments to the Federal Government’s Anti-Restriction of Competition Act (Digital Competition Act 4.0). The new regulations strengthen the FCO’s authority to prohibit companies with certain market weights from engaging in conduct that harms competition in the market.
This also means that Internet platforms will be subject to stricter supervision. Under the new regulations, the FCO has also launched investigations into Facebook, Amazon, and Google.
