Apple Faces $116 Million Fine in Italy Over App Tracking Transparency Policy
Italy’s antitrust authority says the company’s privacy measures unfairly tilted the App Store playing field against third-party developers.
Apple can't seem to catch a break in Europe. From regulatory fines from the EU to France and other European nations, pressure has been steadily building. Now, an Italian competition watchdog has joined the list.
Italy’s Competition Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato or the AGCM) has fined Apple more than $116 million, arguing that the company made privacy rules "excessively burdensome" for third-party apps. At the centre of this decision is Apple’s control over the App Store and how that control shapes who gets access to user data, and on what terms.
According to the AGCM, Apple used its App Store dominance to exact stricter rules for data collection for non-native iOS apps compared to native apps. The regulator says those rules went beyond what local privacy laws actually require, creating an uneven playing field rather than a neutral privacy standard.
That imbalance traces back to Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework, introduced in 2021. ATT requires third-party apps to ask users twice for permission to track their data, while Apple’s own apps only need to ask once. On paper, it looks like a small difference. In practice, regulators argue it changes everything.
In its press release, the AGCM said the ATT restrictions “are capable of harming developers whose business model relies on the sale of advertising space,” as well as advertisers and ad-tech platforms that depend on data to function. Fewer permissions mean lower consent rates, and lower consent rates mean less ad revenue, especially for smaller developers.
This isn’t the first time Apple’s ATT policy has drawn regulatory fines. Earlier this year, France’s antitrust authority fined Apple $162 million over similar concerns about the "disproportionate" nature of the policy.
Ogbonda Chivumnovu
Apple disagrees. In a statement to Reuters, the company said it “strongly disagrees” with the Italian watchdog’s decision, arguing that the ruling overlooks the privacy protections ATT was designed to deliver. From Apple’s perspective, the framework exists to give users more control, not to squeeze rivals.
This fits a broader shift. Across various countries, regulators are no longer just warning big tech companies about market power. They are actively trying to rein them in. In April, the EU fined both Apple and Meta nearly $800 million under the Digital Markets Act. Apple was penalised for limiting how developers communicate alternative payment options, while Meta was targeted over its “pay or consent” model.
Oluwaseun Bamisile
These cases indicate a pattern of governments testing how far platform owners can go before privacy, pricing, and product design cross into market abuse. While focusing on restoring balance in ecosystems dominated by a few powerful players.
