On December 22, 2025, Italy’s antitrust authority (AGCM) formally imposed a staggering €98.6 million ($116 million) wonderful on Apple, accusing the tech large of abusing its “super-dominant” market place. The investigation revealed that whereas Apple markets its App Monitoring Transparency (ATT) options as a win for person privateness, the implementation creates a “double consent” burden that unfairly discriminates towards third-party builders. By forcing exterior apps to leap by way of a number of regulatory hoops whereas streamlining its personal inner companies, Apple has successfully tilted the enjoying discipline in its favor.
The Italian regulator was blunt in its evaluation, labeling Apple’s management over the iOS ecosystem as an absolute dominant place that breaches European competitors legal guidelines (particularly Article 102 of the TFEU). They argued that Apple may have protected person knowledge with out sabotaging the income streams of impartial builders and advertisers. Particularly, the AGCM identified that as a result of Apple’s personal immediate doesn’t fulfill Europe’s strict GDPR legal guidelines, third-party apps are compelled to ask customers for permission twice, which results in huge drops in “opt-in” charges in comparison with Apple’s personal companies.
Whereas Apple has already introduced plans to attraction—claiming the ruling favors “knowledge brokers” over shopper security—the choice provides to a rising mountain of authorized bother for the corporate throughout Europe. Apple argued that its guidelines apply equally to all builders and that the ATT framework has been praised worldwide for giving customers easy controls. Nevertheless, the Italian authority countered that the coverage was imposed unilaterally with out consulting business companions, harming the pursuits of those that depend on promoting to maintain their apps free or low-cost.
This wonderful follows the same sample of heavy-handed regulation within the EU, together with a €150 million wonderful in France earlier this yr for almost equivalent points. The Italian investigation, which started in mid-2023, concluded that the “double consent” requirement was solely disproportionate to the precise objective of knowledge safety. Regulators emphasised {that a} single-step consent course of would have supplied the identical degree of privateness with out deliberately making issues harder for Apple’s opponents.
For followers and creators who depend on a good digital market, this ruling marks a significant turning level within the battle to make sure that “privateness” isn’t used as a protect for anti-competitive conduct. If Apple loses its attraction, it might be compelled to revamp how iOS handles monitoring permissions for everybody, doubtlessly making the person expertise smoother and extra constant throughout all apps. For now, Apple has 90 days to report again to the AGCM on the way it plans to “stop the distortive behaviors” recognized within the 199-page ruling.
[H/T] Euronews
