Apple Inc. was fined €150 million ($162 million) by France's competition regulator, the Autorité de la Concurrence, for abusing its market power via its App Tracking Transparency implementation.
The French watchdog found Apple's application of the privacy framework, not the framework itself, unfairly disadvantaged third-party developers and advertisers compared to Apple's own operations.
The regulator called the implementation "abusive within the meaning of competition law," following complaints originally brought forward by advertiser trade groups.
At issue was the "excessively complex" requirement for third-party apps to display multiple pop-ups for tracking permission, contrasting with simpler user interactions for Apple's own services.
The Autorité stated Apple's specific ATT framework implementation was "neither necessary nor proportionate" for achieving the stated goal of protecting user data.
Introduced in 2021, ATT requires apps ask permission via pop-up to track users across other apps and websites, allowing easy opt-outs which reduces personalized ad effectiveness.
The change hit advertising revenues hard; one report cited in the investigation estimated social media firms like Snapchat, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter) lost nearly $10 billion combined.
The French agency noted the negative effects were widespread but highlighted the particular damage to smaller app publishers lacking alternatives.
"Although the introduction of ATT has impacted all application publishers, the framework has been particularly harmful for smaller publishers that do not enjoy alternative targeting possibilities, in particular in the absence of sufficient proprietary data," the agency wrote.
The French regulator's decision imposes the fine based on Apple's past implementation practices of the system.
However, the authority did not mandate specific changes to the ATT framework itself going forward. "While we are disappointed with today's decision, the French Competition Authority has not required any specific changes to ATT," an Apple spokesperson said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal.
As part of the ruling, Apple is also required to display a summary of the agency's decision on its French website for a period of seven days.
