German publishers reject Apple’s revised app tracking rules, urge antitrust fine

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS, March 10 (Reuters) – German publishers and advertisers on Tuesday called for the country’s competition authority to fine Apple over proposed changes to its app tracking rules, saying they do not do enough to resolve antitrust issues.

The authority had sought feedback from the groups, which include media agencies and the German Association of the Branded Goods Industry, on the changes to its App Tracking Transparency tool. 

The competition enforcer charged Apple in February last year with abusing its market power after Facebook-owner Meta Platforms along with publishers, advertisers and app developers, whose business models rely on advertising tracking, criticised the tool.

Apple, which said it introduced the tool to allow users to control whether to grant apps permission to track their activity across other companies’ apps and websites, pushed back against the industry groups’ call for a fine.

“The tracking industry has consistently fought our efforts to keep users in control of their data, and this is just their latest attempt to gain unfettered access to personal information,” Apple said.

“We will continue to defend this important privacy tool for our users.”

It said German data protection authorities confirmed the tool was consistent with privacy laws and that an overwhelming majority of iOS users backed it, according to a study commissioned by the company.

APPLE REMAINS ‘DATA GATEKEEPER’ DESPITE CHANGES, GROUPS SAY

To address the German concerns, Apple proposed last December to introduce neutral consent prompts for both its services and third-party apps and to align the wording, content and visual design of those messages.

It also offered to simplify the consent process so developers can obtain user permission for advertising-related data processing in a way that complies with data protection law.

The associations, however, said on Tuesday that the proposed changes do not fix the issues outlined by the German watchdog.

“The proposed commitments would not change the negative effects of the App Tracking Transparency Framework,” Bernd Nauen, chief executive of the German Advertising Federation, said in a joint letter signed by the trade bodies.

“Apple would remain the data gatekeeper and would continue to decide who gets access to advertising-relevant data and how companies can communicate with their end customers,” he said.

The associations urged the watchdog to reject Apple’s proposals, order the company to stop the app tracking tool and impose a fine.

Companies found guilty of breaching Germany’s antitrust rules risk fines of as much as 10% of their annual global turnover.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Joe Bavier)