Apple is facing yet another wave of antitrust pressure in Europe, and this time Italy has delivered a major financial hit. The country’s competition authority has fined the iPhone maker 98.6 million euros (about $116 million), arguing that Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) system unfairly tilts the playing field against third-party apps and advertisers.
Italy’s competition regulator, the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM), said its findings come after a wide-ranging investigation carried out alongside the European Commission, other national competition bodies, and Italy’s data protection authority. The core complaint: Apple’s ATT rules are described as restrictive, disproportionate, and excessively burdensome for developers and the advertising ecosystem.
ATT is Apple’s privacy framework that uses an anonymized device identifier without personal details. Apps that want to track user activity across apps or websites must first request permission. In practice, this means developers often rely on explicit user consent to continue delivering targeted advertising, measure campaigns effectively, and fund free-to-use apps.
One issue that especially irritated the Italian authority is what many call the “double prompt” experience for users in the European Union. iPhone and iPad owners can be confronted with both an ATT permission request and a separate consent prompt related to GDPR requirements. According to the AGCM, Apple could have designed the flow differently to avoid effectively adding extra friction that third-party developers must shoulder. The regulator framed this as Apple unilaterally imposing added burdens that can make competing services less attractive or less viable.
Another major criticism involves Apple’s own apps. The AGCM pointed to concerns that Apple’s first-party services are not treated the same way as third-party apps under the ATT consent approach, potentially creating an advantage that could translate into financial gains. Apple, for its part, has repeatedly said it does not misuse the anonymized identifier to serve personalized ads within its own apps and platforms. Still, Italy concluded the overall structure can distort competition and decided a significant fine was warranted. Apple has said it will appeal.
Italy’s decision lands as more European regulators continue to examine how ATT affects competition, especially when Apple also runs an advertising business and controls key distribution channels like the App Store.
In Poland, the country’s antitrust authority has opened a formal investigation into whether Apple may be undermining the spirit of its own privacy rules by serving personalized ads through its own platforms, including the App Store. The concern is straightforward: if Apple’s services are not subject to the same consent requirements, the company could theoretically use the anonymized identifier to target ads without going through the same user permission process that third-party developers must navigate. Similar concerns have drawn attention from authorities in Germany and Romania as well.
Beyond ATT, Apple has been contending with wider European competition rules, including the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Under the DMA, Apple has been designated a “gatekeeper,” a label applied to companies judged to have enough market power to control access and potentially block competition. The gatekeeper decision is tied to factors such as market capitalization or EU revenue thresholds, plus the scale of active users and business users over multiple years.
The DMA has already forced meaningful changes. Apple has had to allow third-party app stores on iOS and iPadOS in the EU, a significant shift from its long-standing model. Apple also revised certain terms for EU developers in March 2024, including an option for participating developers to pay lower percentages of app-related revenue in some cases.
Regulatory attention may expand further. Apple has reportedly informed EU authorities that its Maps and Ads services have reached the thresholds that can trigger closer scrutiny under DMA gatekeeper rules. The EU has 45 days to decide whether to impose additional obligations on those services. If that happens, Apple would typically have six months to implement required compliance measures.
Elsewhere in Europe, Apple continues to face legal and regulatory challenges. In the Netherlands, the company is embroiled in an antitrust case that could involve hundreds of millions of dollars. Two Dutch consumer foundations claim Apple abused its dominant position by charging excessive fees to app developers, with commissions cited as high as 30 percent.
Even outside the EU, scrutiny is building. Switzerland has launched an antitrust investigation into Apple Pay through its competition commission secretariat. The inquiry is looking into whether other mobile payment apps can effectively compete with Apple Pay for contactless payments on iOS devices in retail settings, and whether Apple’s access terms align with Swiss competition law—especially given differences from rules that apply in the wider European Economic Area.
Taken together, these actions show how Apple’s privacy policies, app ecosystem rules, and platform advantages are increasingly being tested by regulators. With fines now issued, more investigations underway, and DMA-driven changes still unfolding, Apple’s legal and competitive landscape in Europe looks set to remain turbulent for the foreseeable future.
