How do you quantify the abuse of a company’s power in its chosen industry? We’re seeing one answer to that question in Italy this week, where the Italian Competition Authority has issued a fine to Apple over “abuse of a dominant position” related to the tech company’s App Store. The fine that’s been levied is a very specific €98,635,416.67, which translates to $116,000,725.26 at the current rate of exchange.
The Italian Competition Authority took issue with a specific aspect of Apple’s App Store policy: specifically, that Apple’s privacy rules restricted the competition of third-party developers. The Authority went on to argue that the App Tracking Transparency’s terms were “disproportionate to the achievement of the company’s stated data protection objectives.”
The ICA argued that the demands made on third-party developers to request consent for collecting and linking data to display advertisements did not “meet privacy legislation requirements, forcing developers to double the consent request for the same purpose.” The full decision — all 199 pages of it — can be read here, though if you aren’t fluent in Italian, you may be out of luck.
Not surprisingly, Apple plans to appeal this ruling. In a statement provided to Ars Technica, the company took issue with elements of the decision. “We strongly disagree with the ICA’s decision, which disregards the important privacy protections ATT provides in favor of ad tech companies and data brokers who want unfettered access to users’ personal data,” Apple wrote. “We will continue to defend strong privacy protections for our users as we appeal.”
Pleats For Your iPhone? Apple and Issey Miyake Say Yes, Please.
Issey Miyake and Apple are collaborating on a pouch for your phone. It’s been a long time coming.This is not the only recent case where Apple has faced regulations of its policies in a particular international market. Last week, Apple released a number of changes to its iOS apps in order to make them compliant with Japan’s Mobile Software Competition Act. (They weren’t the only massive tech company to do so.) As part of these changes, developers in Japan will also have the ability to sell their apps through alternatives to Apple’s own App Store.
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