Apple faces antitrust probe in Poland over App Tracking Transparency rules

The introduction of App Tracking Transparency to iOS has helped improve the privacy of Apple's users, by reducing the amount of data third-party firms can collect from apps. While it has received criticism from advertising-centric companies and the industry at large, it is now being probed by a regulator over competition fears.

Polish antimonopoly watchdog UOKiK announced the investigation into Apple, looking into the ATT rules relating to privacy and personal data processing, to determine if it violates competition law, reports Reuters. According to the regulator, the rules considerably reduced the ability for third-party apps to get hold of data about the user, which could be used to serve targeted ads.

"We want to examine whether Apple's actions may be aimed at eliminating competitors in the market for personalized advertising services, the objective being to better sell their own service" said UOKiK president Tomasz Chrostny. "We will investigate whether this is a case of exclusionary abuse of market power."

Apple has previously been accused of using its privacy claims to increase its profits, while at the same time costing advertisers billions in revenue. At the same time, Apple's own in-house advertising arm is thought to be enjoying more revenue as a result, with analysts forecasting 2021 advertising revenues of $5 billion, rising to $20 billion within three years.

While it's had a major impact on advertising, some app developers are seemingly able to secure "user-level" details, which led to claims Apple wasn't fully enforcing ATT rules. There have also been reports that carriers are able to provide similar levels of user tracking, without developers breaking ATT guidelines.

Apps like Snap and Facebook are also allegedly using loopholes in ATT guidelines to work around the restrictions to cross-platform tracking.