Apple Fined €150M by France for Favoring Its Own Tracking With One-Click Consent

• French regulators have fined Apple for allegedly abusing its dominant position in mobile app advertising with its App Tracking Transparency tool.
• The fine in France is part of a broader trend of antitrust actions against Apple, with ongoing investigations in several European countries.
• The fine comes amid threats from U.S. President Donald Trump of retaliation against European fines on American tech companies.

French competition regulators have fined Apple 150 million euros ($162.4 million) for allegedly abusing its position in mobile app advertising by using a privacy control tool on its devices.

Apple, which dominates mobile app advertising, has been the target of several antitrust fines in recent years as regulators crack down on the iPhone giant’s stranglehold on the market.

Apple Hit With Antitrust Fine

The fine relates to Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) tool, which allows iPhone and iPad users to decide which applications can track their activity.

The ruling applied to complaints between 2021 and 2023 from gaming companies, publishers, and digital advertisers claiming the ATT tool made it more difficult for them to advertise on Apple’s platforms.

“While the objective pursued by ATT is not in itself open to criticism, the way it is implemented is neither necessary nor proportionate to Apple’s stated objective of protecting personal data,” the regulator said in a statement.

Benoît Coeuré, President of the French Competition Authority, said the antitrust regulator had not explained how they would like the tool changed.

Coeuré added that the compliance process would take time as Germany, Italy, Poland, and Romania were also investigating Apple’s ATT tool.

“While we are disappointed with today’s decision, the French Competition Authority has not required any specific changes to ATT,” an Apple spokesperson said.

Threats of Donald Trump Retaliation

The French competition authority delivered the ruling despite mounting threats of retaliation from Donald Trump.

The U.S. President claimed he would place fines on EU countries that penalized American firms, but Coeuré disregarded the issue.

“We apply competition law in an apolitical manner,” Coeuré said in a press conference with reporters.

“But what we have heard… is that they intend to apply antitrust law to the big digital platforms as strictly as their predecessors. So in terms of antitrust, I don’t see any controversy between the United States and Europe on how we apply the law,” he said.

In February, Trump issued a memorandum targeting what his administration described as “overseas extortion and unfair fines and penalties” against American technology companies.

The directive instructed U.S. trade officials to investigate and potentially retaliate against countries implementing Digital Services Taxes or other penalties that disproportionately affected U.S. tech firms.

Apple’s Streaming Penalty

In March 2024, the EU fined Apple 1.84 billion euros ($2 billion) for anti-competitive behavior in the music streaming market, marking the tech giant’s first antitrust penalty from the EU.

The European Commission alleged that Apple unfairly favored its own music streaming service by prohibiting rivals like Spotify from informing users about alternative, potentially cheaper subscription options outside of the App Store.

Apple has vowed to appeal the fine, claiming it was based on insufficient evidence and biased towards Sweden-based Spotify.

“The decision was reached despite the Commission’s failure to uncover any credible evidence of consumer harm and ignores the realities of a market that is thriving, competitive, and growing fast,” the company said in a statement.

“The primary advocate for this decision, and the biggest beneficiary, is Spotify, a company based in Stockholm, Sweden.”

“Spotify has the largest music streaming app in the world and has met with the EC [European Commission] more than 65 times during this investigation,” it said.