Following legal disputes in Europe, Apple has now threatened to pull out its App Tracking Transparency feature from the region, as it’s facing legal battles in Germany, Italy, and other countries, reports DPA International.
In a statement sent to the publication, Apple says “Intense lobby efforts in Germany, Italy, and other countries in Europe may force us to withdraw this feature to the detriment of European consumers.”
Apple’s App Tracking Transparency has been available since iOS 14.5. At that time, the company changed how third-party apps could track users. Previously, users had little say in how apps like Facebook could track their activity. While this disrupted how third-party vendors could understand customers, it also improved how data was collected when users had an Apple device with them. Still, with court appeals saying that the ATT feature could violate local regulations as it would give an unfair advantage to Apple, the company might remove yet another feature from European customers.
Apple says it doesn’t collect users’ data
What’s interesting about these court cases is that Apple says it doesn’t collect data from its users, and the data it might collect is randomized. That essentially means the company knows how many people downloaded X from the App Store, but it couldn’t tell if I ever downloaded X.
Still, Germany’s Federal Cartel Office is convinced that it didn’t prevent Apple from combining data from the App Store, Apple ID, or connected devices for advertising purposes, even though the company says it doesn’t work like that.
While Germany and Italy still have to publish their decisions, the company states that it will “continue to urge the relevant authorities in Germany, Italy, and across Europe to allow Apple to continue providing this important privacy tool to our users.” If Apple ever removes the App Tracking Transparency feature from Europe, social media apps and advertisers would have a lot more access to users’ data. In addition, this function would join several other Apple Intelligence and settings features that are not available in the region due to the Digital Markets Act.
