Apple gets fined €150 million in France over iOS data tracking consent

ByHT News Desk | Edited by Abhyjith K. Ashokan

Mar 31, 2025 04:39 PM IST

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The regulator called the Autorité de la Concurrence said that Apple’s ATT system is not allowing app publishers to comply with Europe’s GDPR privacy rules.

France’s antitrust regulator has fined Apple Inc. €150 million ($162 million) after a lengthy probe into how it asks to collect iOS users’ data and the impact of this on advertisers.

An illustration of an iPhone held up in front of the Apple Inc. logo taken of January 30, 2015 in Lille. Apple was fined �150 million on March 31, 2025 for abuse of a dominant position in the targeting of advertising on its devices, announced the French Competition Authority, while similar investigations are targeting the company in other European countries.(Philippe Huguen/AFP)

The regulator called the Autorité de la Concurrence said that Apple’s ATT system is not allowing app publishers to comply with Europe’s GDPR privacy rules, according to a Bloomberg report.

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As a result, the apps are forced to display multiple pop-ups which end up making their use excessively complex.

Apart from this, the regulator said that Apple’s app tracking transparency framework was “neither necessary nor proportionate.”

Though the framework on its own was not “problematic,” the way it was implemented is “abusive within the meaning of competition law,” according to the regulator.

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However, this ruling can attract the attention of US President Donald Trump, who had warned that he would retaliate with heavy tariffs if there are any “disproportionate” penalties against American tech firms.

The case was brought up against Apple by a group of advertisers who claimed that the changes, which originally came into effect in 2021, would harm their revenues.

As a result, French competition officials who were investigating the case examined whether Apple applied less stringent rules to itself than to other services, according to the report.

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Apple had previously stated that the rules give users “more control by requiring all apps to ask permission before tracking them” and stated that it complies with EU rules.