Italian Regulators Start Apple Antitrust Probe

Facts

• Italy’s antitrust agency revealed on Thursday that it has begun a probe into Apple’s alleged abuse of its prominence in the app market.¹
• The regulatory authority is accusing Apple of making its privacy policy more restrictive for third-party developers than for itself.²
• Apple is also accused of making it harder for third-party apps to get users to opt-in to tracking as well as monitoring the success of ad campaigns.³
• In a statement, Apple denied the charges, saying it applies its privacy rules "equally to all developers, including Apple.”¹
• European regulators have previously focused attention on antitrust violations by Meta, Amazon, and Google parent company Alphabet. Apple has faced scrutiny for the way it manages what can be used and installed on its wide range of popular devices.³

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Associated Press, and ³Forbes.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by TechCrunch. Ever since allowing app-tracking transparency, Apple has come under fire worldwide for potentially tilting the scales in its favor. Beyond this Italian probe, there should be a far-reaching EU-wide investigation of Apple’s squashing of competition, which harms current developers’ bottom line and could hamper future innovation.
• Narrative B, as provided by Business Times. Apple will continue to work with Italian regulators to address any of its concerns. In reality, it’s unlikely Apple is doing anything untoward considering it could be facing a fine of 10% of its profits if found to have abused its market dominance under EU competition law.