Italy antitrust agency launches competition probe on Apple

ROME (AA) – Italy’s antitrust agency AGCM on Thursday launched an investigation into US tech giant Apple for alleged abuse of its dominant position in the apps market.

The agency said it considers the company has adopted since April 2021 a more restrictive privacy policy towards third-party app developers than it applies to itself.

It said external developers and advertisers are disadvantaged “in terms of the quality of the data supplied by Apple.”

The watchdog claimed that users of non-Apple apps receive more visible prompts asking for the consent to track personal data, which it said are also worded in a dissuasive language.

In addition, it added, external apps-developers receive poorer quality information about the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns on the apps.

“For this reason, according to the authority, Apple’s alleged discriminatory conduct can cause a drop in advertising revenue for external advertisers."​​​​​​​

Under EU competition law, companies found guilty of abuse of market dominance risk a fine of up to 10% of annual turnover.