Antitrust: abuse of dominant position, 98 million fine to Apple

Competition and Market Guarantor Authorityor imposed on companies Apple Inc., Apple Distribution International Ltd and Apple Italia Srl (hereinafter “Apple”) one fine of 98,635,416.67 euros per abuse of dominant position. Apple ha violated article 102 of the TFEU as regards the market for the supply to developers of platforms for the online distribution of apps for users of the iOS operating system.

In this market, Apple is in a position of absolute dominance through its App Store. At the end of a complex investigation, also conducted in coordination with the European Commission, with other national competition authorities and with the Guarantor for the Protection of Personal Data, the AGCM ascertained the restrictiveness – from a competitive point of view – of the App Tracking Transparency (“ATT”) policy, i.e. the privacy rules imposed by Apple, starting from April 2021, as part of its iOS mobile operating system, on third-party developers of apps distributed through the App Store.

In particular, third-party developers are obliged to acquire specific consent for the collection and connection of data for advertising purposes via a screen imposed by Apple, the so-called ATT prompt which, however, is not sufficient to satisfy the requirements established by legislation on privacythus forcing developers to duplicate the consent request for the same purpose.

The Antitrust has found that the conditions of the ATT policy are imposed unilaterally, are harmful to the interests of Apple’s commercial partners and are not proportionate to achieve the privacy objective, as asserted by the company. In fact, since user data is a fundamental element on which the ability to carry out personalized online advertising is based, the inevitable duplication of consent requests induced by the methods of implementation of the ATT policy – which restricts the possibilities of collecting, connecting and using such data – causes damage to the activity of developers, who base their business model on the sale of advertising space, and also to that of advertisers and advertising intermediation platforms.

This duplication produces an absence of proportionality of the ATT policy rules, considering that Apple should have guaranteed the same level of user privacy by providing the possibility for developers to obtain consent to profiling in a single solution.

Codacons: “Damage for consumers and the market”

The sanction is good for Codacons: “Any abuse of a dominant position translates into damage for the market, for operators and for final consumers, and in this sense it is right to sanction those practices that violate competition legislation – explains a note – in the specific case the violation ascertained by the Antitrust affected an enormous number of potential subjects, considering the vast market of online apps for users of the iOS operating system, increasingly used by consumers, a market where Apple operates in a position of total dominance through its App Store”.

And he continues: “Once again big-tech companies are being sanctioned for anti-competitive behavior and incorrect practices in terms of user privacy, but these are fines that barely tickle these giants: just think that in fiscal fourth quarter of 2025 Apple recorded a turnover of 102.5 billion dollars and a net profit of 27.5 billionalmost doubled compared to the 14.7 billion of the previous year”, concludes Codacons.

Gasparri: “No one should bow to the excessive power of big tech

“The Antitrust’s action is excellent. It is a clear and important signal: step by step we are moving to crush the powers of the web who for too long have felt untouchable, do not pay taxes, act as if they were the masters of the world, altering the free market”, declared the president of the FI senators, Maurizio Gasparri, in a note. “More determination and courage are needed against these giants of the web, because the rules must apply to everyone, without exceptions. No one must bow to the excessive power of those who abuse their dominant position: we will continue to make our voice heard to protect the privacy of citizens, businesses, fair competition and to say enough to the arrogance of those who trample on rights and duties”.