Apple's App Tracking Transparency seems to not apply to Apple itself, find German regulators (Updated - Apple statement)
UPDATE:Apple reached out to us and provided us the following statement, attributed to an Apple spokesperson:
"Apple believes in thriving and competitive markets, and through the App Store, we’ve helped millions of developers turn their brightest ideas into apps that change the world. In Germany alone, the iOS app economy supports hundreds of thousands of jobs and has given developers of all sizes the same opportunity to share their passion and creativity with users, while creating a secure and trusted place for customers to download the apps they love.
“Privacy has always been at the center of our products and features. At Apple, we believe that a user’s data belongs to them and they should get to decide whether to share their data and with whom. We have long believed in the power of advertising to connect businesses with customers—and that you can have great advertising with great privacy. App Tracking Transparency (ATT) simply gives users the choice whether or not they want to allow apps to track them or share their information with data brokers. ATT does not prevent companies from advertising or restrict their use of the first-party data they obtain from users with their consent.
"These rules apply equally to all developers — including Apple — and we have received strong support from regulators and privacy advocates for this feature. Apple holds itself to a higher privacy standard than almost any other company by providing users with an affirmative choice as to whether or not they would like personalized ads at all.
"We will continue to engage constructively with the FCO to address any of their questions and discuss how our approach promotes competition and choice, while protecting users’ privacy and security.”
“Privacy has always been at the center of our products and features. At Apple, we believe that a user’s data belongs to them and they should get to decide whether to share their data and with whom. We have long believed in the power of advertising to connect businesses with customers—and that you can have great advertising with great privacy. App Tracking Transparency (ATT) simply gives users the choice whether or not they want to allow apps to track them or share their information with data brokers. ATT does not prevent companies from advertising or restrict their use of the first-party data they obtain from users with their consent.
"These rules apply equally to all developers — including Apple — and we have received strong support from regulators and privacy advocates for this feature. Apple holds itself to a higher privacy standard than almost any other company by providing users with an affirmative choice as to whether or not they would like personalized ads at all.
"We will continue to engage constructively with the FCO to address any of their questions and discuss how our approach promotes competition and choice, while protecting users’ privacy and security.”
The original story continues below.
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Apple (as well as other tech giants) have been subject to multiple investigations, mainly for reasons of anti-competitive practices. Now, however, a new investigation is underway, reports AppleInsider. And this time, it surprisingly (or not really) singles out App Tracking Transparency, one of Apple's highly-used privacy features.
Is App Tracking Transparency anti-competitive? German regulators aim to find out
App Tracking Transparency, or ATT for short, was launched back in April last year with iOS 14.5 as a means for users to block third-party app tracking. If you decide to opt-out of tracking, iOS blocks trackers from following you around on the internet (well, these are not people but a sort of identifiers that collect data) with the purpose of serving you targeted ads.
As you may imagine, the service hurt some advertisers and businesses, including Facebook, one of its most vocal criticizers. And now it seems German regulators are raising their brows at it, ready to examine if it is hurting competition.
The investigation is going to be led by the Bundeskartellamt, Germany's Federal Cartel Office. The regulator body shared the information in a statement, claiming that Apple should make pro-competitive rules, given its 'paramount' position over its ecosystem.
Andreas Mundt, President of the Federal Cartel Office, stated that it seems Apple's rules of App Tracking Transparency apply only to third-party apps, but not to Apple. And yes, theoretically speaking, this gives Apple the possibility to give preference to its own offers and ads. Label - possibly anti-competitive.
According to the preliminary findings of the German regulator body, Apple is indeed not subjected to the rules of ATT. The investigation will deep dive into that, and determine whether or not this action will be found as going against healthy competition.
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Things that are NOT allowed: