The watchdog is concerned Apple might "abuse its
dominant position by implementing discriminatory, non-objective and
non-transparent conditions for the use of user data for advertising
purposes", it said in a statement.
The statement triggers an antitrust procedure during which
the company will be able to express its point of view, the watchdog said.
Apple denied the allegation. The mechanism "gives users
more control by requiring all apps to ask permission before tracking
them", the company said in an e-mailed statement, adding it will
"continue to engage constructively" with the French regulator.
Four French online advertising industry groups filed an
antitrust complaint in 2020 against Apple over changes the company made to
privacy features when it started to ask iPhone owners whether they were ready
to allow apps to gather data used to define and send targeted ads, called App
Tracking Transparency (ATT).
The feature lead to revenue declines for publishers,
industry lobby groups said.
The four associations - IAB France, MMAF, SRI, and UDECAM -
said the changes brought by Apple did not meet European Union privacy rules,
citing the fact that while the opt-in mechanism applied for third-party
developers, Apple's own apps did not include it.
"Apple's apps do not show an ATT prompt because they do
not track, meaning they do not link user or device data with user or device
data collected from other companies' apps, websites, or offline properties for
targeted advertising or advertising measurement purposes, nor do they share
user or device data with data brokers," Apple said.
"Apple holds its advertising business to a higher
standard of privacy than it requires of any other developer," the company
added. © Reuters