The German antimonopoolio authority has accused Apple for abusing its market power through its applications monitoring tool and giving preferential treatment to a measure that could result in daily fines for the iPhone manufacturer if you do not change your commercial practices.
The measure is the consequence of a three -year investigation conducted by the Federal Office of Cartels on the Apple Application Transparency Transparency Function, which allows users to block advertisers not to track them in different applications.
The American technological giant has said that the function allows users to control their privacy, but has received criticism from Meta Platforms, applications developers and emerging companies whose business models are based on advertising monitoring.
“The ATTF (Application Monitoring Tool) makes it much more difficult for competitive applications editors to access the data of relevant users for advertising,” said Andreas Mundt, president of the Applications Control Office, in a statement .
Apple defense
Apple responded in a statement sent by email to Reuters, which “a higher standard is required than that required to any external developer.” “We will continue to collaborate constructively with the Federal Competition Office to ensure that users continue to have transparency and control over their data,” he added.
Apple will have to address the concerns raised in the German accusation or risk more procedures and fines if it does not do so before a final sentence is issued, which could arrive this year, but it is more likely to occur next year.
The case was caused by complaints of associations that represent editors, broadcasters, advertisers, their advertising technology agencies and companies. “Today’s accusations are revolutionary. Apple’s measures had created artificial opacity in their ecosystem that led to lower choice, greater costs for applications and lower protection against advertising fraud, all while increasing Apple’s income from services, ”said Thomas Höppner, Hausfeld law firm partner, who represents the plaintiffs.
“For the first time it has been clarified that Apple cannot invoke privacy arguments as a pretext to massively restrict competition in their favor,” he said. The companies declared guilty of violating the German antimonopoolio standards risk receiving fines of up to 10% of Your annual billing.
With Reuters information.
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