Apple facing $2.7 billion UK lawsuit over 'unfair' app tracking rules

Read a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST
FAST

LONDON, Sept 3 : Apple is facing a £2 billion ($2.7 billion) London lawsuit brought on behalf of app developers over its app tracking rules, with the iPhone maker accused of abusing its power to unfairly impose greater restrictions on third parties.

The lawsuit, filed at London's Competition Appeal Tribunal on Thursday, follows years of regulatory scrutiny over Apple's App Tracking Transparency feature, which was launched in 2021.

Apple has said it introduced that feature to allow users to control whether to grant apps permission to track their activity across other companies' apps and websites.

Lawyers bringing the new lawsuit against Apple, though, say the feature imposed stricter requirements on third-party app developers than on Apple's own services, giving its advertising ecosystem a competitive advantage.

CNA Games

Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time

Buzzword
Create words using the given letters

Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser

Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge

Word Search
Spot as many words as you can
Show More
Show Less

Ann Pope, a former senior official with Britain's Competition and Markets Authority who is leading the lawsuit, said Apple's policy "resulted in very significant harm to businesses that depend on Apple as a gatekeeper".

"This action is important to protect the rights of British businesses that depend on Apple, to ensure that the rules that Apple applies are fair, and to compensate the losses that British companies have suffered," Pope said in a statement.

Apple, which has previously said its App Tracking Transparency provides "important privacy protections", did not immediately comment.

Apple's App Tracking Transparency feature has been the subject of investigations across Europe, in particular in Germany where Apple last month agreed changes to rules on how app developers can use personal data for targeted advertising.

The German competition authority had accused Apple of abusing its market power, after Facebook-owner Meta plus publishers, advertisers and app developers – whose business models rely on advertising tracking – criticised the tool.

Regulators in France, Italy, Poland and elsewhere have also probed the App Tracking Transparency framework.

($1 = 0.7412 pounds)

Newsletter

Week in Review

Subscribe to our Chief Editor’s Week in Review

Our chief editor shares analysis and picks of the week's biggest news every Saturday.

Sign up for our newsletters

Get our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inbox

Subscribe here

Get the CNA app

Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories

Download here

Get WhatsApp alerts

Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app

Join here