Italy sanctions Apple €98 million for App Store tracking practices

Italy’s competition authority has imposed a €98 million fine on Apple, Apple Distribution International, and Apple Italia for abuse of dominance linked to the App Store. The authority found that Apple leveraged its control over iOS app distribution to impose conditions that unfairly disadvantaged third‑party app developers, in breach of EU competition principles.

Central to the decision is Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework. Regulators concluded that Apple required developers to obtain duplicate user consent for advertising-related data processing, exceeding what EU data protection law requires. According to the authority, this practice undermined ad‑based business models while failing to deliver proportionate privacy benefits for users.

The investigation, conducted in coordination with the European Commission and Italy’s data protection authority, the Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali, found that equivalent levels of user privacy could have been ensured through a single consent mechanism. The imposed duplication was therefore considered disproportionate and restrictive of competition.

This decision aligns with broader European scrutiny of ATT. In March 2025, France’s competition authority fined Apple €150 million over similar concerns, highlighting that unilateral platform policies framed as privacy protections may still breach EU competition law where they distort market conditions and favor a platform’s own advertising services.