German regulator orders Apple to neutralise data collection prompts
The US tech giant has four months to remove discouraging language from consent requests and ensure neutrality for third-party developers under a new seven-year monitoring regime.
Germany’s competition authority, the Bundeskartellamt, has ruled that Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) prompts are anticompetitive because they favour the company’s own applications over third-party developers. The regulator found that the wording, design, and selection options within Apple’s consent requests discouraged users from granting data access to external apps while encouraging consent for Apple’s own services.
The ruling centres on the ATT framework, which Apple introduced in April 2021 to require apps to ask users for permission to track their data across other companies’ apps and websites. The Bundeskartellamt determined that the specific phrasing and layout of the prompts used for Apple’s own offerings had the potential to encourage user consent, whereas those for third-party providers had the potential to discourage it.
Under the terms of the decision, Apple must remove any discouraging symbols and wording from its predefined requests for third-party providers. The regulator has mandated that all data collection consent prompts must be neutral in terms of content, wording, and layout, ensuring a level playing field for developers seeking user permission.
Apple has been given four months to implement these changes. As part of the compliance process, the company is required to test the revised prompts with app developers to verify their effectiveness and neutrality. The Bundeskartellamt stated that these commitments will remain in force for seven years, with an independent monitoring trustee ensuring that Apple remains compliant with the new standards.
The decision forms part of a broader global scrutiny of Apple’s app store practices and data collection policies. It follows similar antitrust challenges faced by other major technology platforms, including recent orders against Google to simplify the installation of rival app stores on Android. Apple has been contacted for comment regarding the ruling and the required changes.
