Apple has to pay a big chunk in Italy.Image: keystone
December 22, 2025, 11:21 amDecember 22, 2025, 11:21 am
The Italian competition authority has imposed a fine of more than 98.6 million euros on the US company Apple because of allegations of abuse of its dominant market position. As the antitrust regulator AGCM announced on Monday, Apple had violated competition law in the market for app developers.
“Apple has absolute dominance in this market through its app store,” explained the authority. An investigation showed that Apple had imposed data protection regulations that were too restrictive on third-party app developers, the AGCM said.
The rules of the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) function “are imposed unilaterally and harm the interests of Apple’s business partners.” ATT ties the tracking of user behavior for third-party apps to certain requirements and is particularly important for app providers whose offerings are financed by advertising.
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The function ensures that when you open an app, a consent window for tracking user behavior opens: If the user clicks “No” here, the app loses access to the advertising ID – a number that enables online tracking of the user’s activities.
Investigations against Apple are also underway in other European countries because of ATT. The French antitrust authorities imposed a fine of 150 million euros on the company this year because of allegations of abuse of its dominant market position. (sda/awp/afp)