France’s competition authority refuses to block Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature

France’s competition authority announced that it has rejected the requests of a group of advertisers in France including IAB France, MMAF, SRI and UDECAM to block Apple’s upcoming App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature which will require advertisers to get user consent to track their data. 

The French competition authority (FCA) said that the introduction of the upcoming privacy feature ‘’does not appear to reflect an abuse of a dominant position’’. However, it added that the investigation is still continuing. 

As reported by Reuters, the French competition authority worked closely with France’s data privacy regulator CNIL in deciding to reject the requests to block the App Tracking Transparency feature. 

Speaking to TechCrunch, an Apple spokesperson said: 

“We’re grateful to the French Competition Authority for recognizing that App Tracking Transparency in iOS 14 is in the best interest of French iOS users. ATT will provide a powerful user privacy benefit by requiring developers to ask users’ permission before sharing their data with other companies for the purposes of advertising, or with data brokers. We firmly believe that users’ data belongs to them, and that they should control when that data is shared, and with whom. We look forward to further engagement with the FCA on this critical matter of user privacy and competition.”

Since the company first announced the privacy feature at its WWDC2020 event, it has been receiving backlash from advertising companies of all sizes and also from global tech giants such as Facebook and Snap, Inc.

Against Apple’s IDFA change, Facebook shared many blog posts, ran full-page newspaper ads and recently launched an ad campaign named ‘‘Good Ideas Deserved to Be Found’’ to highlight the importance of personalized ad campaigns for SMB’s. 

Also Read: Zuckerberg reportedly told his staff to ‘inflict pain’ on Apple

Last month, Snap, Inc. warned that Apple’s privacy changes could pose a risk to its advertising business. 

Meanwhile, Google is also reportedly searching for alternatives to Apple’s ATT feature, people close to the company said last month.