Apple fined $162 million for hurting app developers with ‘excessively complex’ privacy options

France’s competition watchdog (Autorité de la concurrence) ordered Apple to pay €150 million (~$162.4 million) after finding that its App Tracking Transparency system allows the company to abuse its dominance in the mobile app market. In its decision, the authority says the initiative — which Apple pitches as a way to give users more control of their privacy — harms small publishers and “is neither necessary for nor proportionate with” Apple’s goal of protecting personal data.

Launched in 2021, Apple’s App Tracking Transparency initiative forces developers to show two pop-ups asking for permission to track users’ data across other apps and websites. Meanwhile, approving location tracking with Apple’s own apps requires only a single tap — and so does opting out of location services on third-party apps.

Many companies criticized the move at the time, saying the requirement would harm publishers by making it more difficult to track users for targeted advertising, which is one of the primary ways apps — especially free ones — make money. A report from the Financial Times found that Snapchat, Facebook, and X (then called Twitter) lost nearly $10 billion in revenue as a result.

France’s competition doesn’t take issue with the potential benefits that App Tracking Transparency has on user privacy. But it argues that the initiative makes using third-party apps on iOS “excessively complex” compared to Apple’s first-party ones. 

“Although the introduction of ATT [App Tracking Transparency] 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 writes.

“App Tracking Transparency gives users more control of their privacy through a required, clear, and easy-to-understand prompt about one thing: tracking,” Apple spokesperson Shane Bauer said in an emailed statement to The Verge. “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.”

That said, the French competition regulator is simply fining Apple for past use of the system — not requiring the company to change or dismantle it in the future. “While we are disappointed with today’s decision, the French Competition Authority has not required any specific changes to ATT.”

Along with the fine, Apple is also required to display a summary of the agency’s decision on its website for seven days.

Update, March 31st: Added a statement from Apple.