Facing a maximum annual revenue fine of 10%: Apple encounters obstacles in promoting "App Tracking Transparency" (ATT) in Germany

Tech Home, March 10 — Reuters published a blog today (March 10), reporting that German publishers and joint advertising agencies are urging German antitrust regulators to reject Apple’s proposed modifications to “App Tracking Transparency” (ATT) and to impose hefty fines.

According to the blog, publishers argue that Apple’s ATT feature hampers their access to advertising data and accuse Apple of unfairly exempting its own apps from the same restrictions, allegedly undermining competition.

Apple denies these allegations, emphasizing that the company applies stricter standards to itself than to third-party developers, and that services like Siri and Maps are designed in a way that completely prevents cross-app data linking.

To ease concerns from German antitrust authorities, Apple proposed several compromise solutions last year. Andreas Mundt, head of the Federal Cartel Office in Germany, revealed that Apple agreed to introduce neutral authorization prompts for its own services and third-party apps, standardize the wording and visual design of these prompts, and simplify the authorization process to comply with data protection laws.

However, the German industry has clearly rejected these proposals. Bernd Nauen, CEO of the German Advertising Federation, stated in a joint declaration that Apple’s commitments have failed to eliminate the negative impact of the ATT framework. He emphasized that Apple remains a “gatekeeper” of data, continuing to control access to advertising-related data and the ways companies communicate with end users.

If German regulators ultimately find Apple in violation, the company could face fines of up to 10% of its global annual revenue. The ruling may also affect other countries reviewing ATT.

In response to the incident, Apple later issued a statement to the media reaffirming that privacy is a fundamental human right and that the introduction of ATT is to give users control over their data. Apple accused the tracking industry of attempting to obtain personal information without limits and stated it will continue to defend this important privacy tool for users.