France's antitrust watchdog has imposed a €150 million fine on Apple for abusing its dominant position in the mobile app advertising market through its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) privacy control tool.

The Autorité de la concurrence found that between April 2021 and July 2023, Apple's implementation of the ATT framework on iOS and iPadOS devices harmed application publishers and advertising service providers, particularly smaller publishers.

The regulator stated that while the core objective of protecting personal data was not problematic, the implementation of ATT was "neither necessary for nor proportionate with Apple's stated objective of protecting personal data."

According to the French authority, the introduction of the framework led to "multiple consent pop-ups being displayed, making the use of third-party applications in the iOS environment excessively complex." It also found that the rules governing the interaction between different pop-up windows "undermined the neutrality of the framework, causing definite economic harm" to app publishers.

The watchdog specifically noted that smaller publishers were penalised as they "depend to a large extent on third-party data collection to finance their business," unlike major vertically integrated platforms.

In addition to the financial penalty, the French regulator has ordered Apple to publish the decision on its website for seven days.

The ruling confirms an earlier Reuters report from last month about the impending fine. Apple has not yet issued a public response to the decision.

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