Germany’s Federal Cartel Office is investigating whether Apple’s third-party app tracking rules give the tech behemoth preferential treatment or undermine competition, according to a Financial Times report Tuesday (June 14).
The German antitrust watchdog is concerned that Apple’s rules are “self-preferencing” and stifle competition given Apple’s ability to “unilaterally set rules for its ecosystem.” Apple’s new tracking rules, introduced in April 2021, force third-party apps to ask users’ permission before tracking their behavior in order to send them personalized ads.
Last year, the French competition watchdog opened an investigation to assess whether Apple was acting as a gatekeeper when it came to third-party apps but it concluded that the company was not abusing its dominant position.
A group of Germany’s largest media, technology and advertising companies and industry bodies representing companies including Facebook and Axel Springer, the owner of Bild, Die Welt and Insider, filed a complaint about Apple’s update last April, predicting a 60% dip in ad revenue for app developers.
“All apps have to ask for their users’ consent to track their data,” the Federal Cartel Office said in a statement, per FT. “Apple’s rules now also make tracking conditional on the users’ consent to the use and combination of their data. These rules apparently do not affect Apple when using and combining user data from its own ecosystem.”
Agency head Andreas Mundt said the new probe came about thanks to new powers the watchdog received under a 2021 law. German antitrust investigators have already concluded probes against other large tech companies, including Google and Facebook, using the new legal powers.
“We have reason to doubt that this is the case when we see that Apple’s rules apply to third parties, but not to Apple itself,” he said. “This would allow Apple to preference its own offers or impede other companies.”
Apple said Tuesday its rules apply equally to all developers and it has received support from regulators and privacy advocates for the changes it’s made.
“ATT [App Tracking Transparency] simply gives users the choice whether or not they want to allow apps to track them or share their information with data brokers,” the statement from Apple says. “ATT does not prevent companies from advertising or restrict their use of the first-party data they obtain from users with their consent.”
Related: Apple Uses Developer Revenues to Defend App Store Practices
In May, Apple continued fighting against rising criticism of its App Store policies by arguing the platform creates jobs and generates revenue.
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