Apple will change how app providers seek user consent for personalised advertising on iPhones and iPads after Germany’s competition authority raised concerns about its treatment of third-party apps.
German regulator, Bundeskartellamt, said on its website today that Apple had offered commitments to address its concerns, which have now been made binding, bringing the competition proceeding to an end.
The authority said Apple’s App Tracking Transparency Framework required third-party app providers to obtain additional consent through an Apple-defined prompt for certain forms of cross-company data use.
The rules did not apply in the same way to Apple’s own offerings.
Bundeskartellamt President Andreas Mundt said, “It is key that personal data and privacy are protected effectively when using apps. Apple is allowed to provide for a level of protection for its users that exceeds the minimum legal requirements.
“However, if Apple sets up additional rules within its ecosystem for the use of data, these rules must, under Germany’s special abuse provision for large digital companies, not treat its own offerings better than those of its competitors.
“This is precisely where our competition concerns arose. Apple will now align the consent requests much more closely and give third-party app providers more freedom to combine the necessary requests in a sensible way.”
Under the commitments, Apple will make its consent prompts for its own offerings and third-party apps more closely aligned and remove potentially discouraging symbols and wording from its predefined requests for third-party providers.
The authority said app publishers will also have greater freedom to combine Apple’s consent request with those required under data protection law, or connect them in a way that is clear to users.
Mundt said the changes were not intended to increase consent rates for personalised advertising.
“It is expressly not our aim to help achieve the highest possible levels of consent to personalised advertising. We want to ensure that users can make a free and informed decision.
“Users who do not wish to allow their data to be used for personalised advertising must be able to make an equally free and informed decision as users who intend to consent to such data use. The new consent requests are aimed at better enabling users to make this decision,” he said.
The Bundeskartellamt said its investigation focused on competition law and did not seek to enforce data protection law.
The proceeding began in June 2022 after the authority had found that Apple held a position of paramount significance for competition across markets.
Apple has four months from receiving the decision to implement the agreed changes.
The commitments will apply for seven years and will be monitored by an independent trustee.
The Bundeskartellamt said, “competition authorities in France and Italy had previously fined Apple €150m and €98.6m respectively over proceedings concerning its App Tracking Transparency Framework.”
