Italian regulators have fined Apple €98 million after concluding that the company abused its dominant position in the mobile app market through the way it enforces its App Store tracking policies. The decision adds to mounting scrutiny across Europe over Apple’s App Tracking Transparency framework and its wider impact on competition in digital advertising.
The ruling was issued Italy’s competition authority, which said Apple and its subsidiaries Apple Distribution International and Apple Italia unfairly exploited what it described as a position of absolute dominance in the distribution of apps on iOS devices. Regulators argued that Apple imposed rules that placed disproportionate burdens on third party developers while protecting its own commercial interests.
At the center of the case is Apple’s App Tracking Transparency policy, commonly known as ATT. Introduced in 2021, the feature requires apps to ask users for permission before tracking their activity across other apps and websites for advertising purposes. Apple has consistently defended the policy as a privacy measure designed to give users greater control over their data.
However, Italian authorities found that the way ATT was implemented went beyond what privacy law requires. According to the ruling, Apple forced developers to obtain user consent for advertising related data in a duplicated and fragmented way, while Apple itself was able to rely on a different and less burdensome consent flow within its own ecosystem.
Regulators said this duplication undermined advertising based business models that many app developers rely on, without delivering a proportionate increase in user privacy. The authority concluded that Apple could have achieved the same level of data protection allowing developers to collect consent through a single, clear step, rather than requiring multiple prompts that discouraged users from agreeing to tracking.
In its decision, the authority stated that the lack of proportionality in the ATT rules distorted competition. Smaller developers and advertising supported apps were hit hardest, as reduced access to data made it more difficult for them to target ads effectively and generate revenue. Meanwhile, Apple’s own services and advertising operations were less affected the same constraints.
The fine reflects a broader European trend of closer oversight of large technology platforms. Regulators across the EU have increasingly questioned whether privacy focused changes introduced dominant firms also serve to reinforce market power and disadvantage competitors.
Apple has previously said that ATT applies equally to all developers, including its own apps, and that privacy is a fundamental human right. The company is expected to challenge the Italian decision, as it has in other regulatory cases across Europe.
The ruling comes as Apple already faces pressure under new EU digital competition rules, which aim to curb the power of so called gatekeepers in the tech industry. Together, these developments signal that European authorities are taking a tougher stance on how privacy, competition, and platform control intersect in the digital economy.
