Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on December 22, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Italy's AGCM fined Apple €98.6M for antitrust violations in the App Store. Apple disputes the claims and will appeal the decision.
MILAN, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Italy's competition authority (AGCM) said on Monday it had fined U.S technology giant Apple and two of its divisions 98.6 million euros ($115.53 million) over alleged abuse of their dominant position in the mobile app market.
The regulator said the group allegedly violated European regulations with Apple's App Store, where it holds an "absolute dominance" in dealing with third-party developers.
The watchdog opened the probe into the technology giant in May 2023, claiming the company penalised third-party app developers by imposing "a more restrictive privacy policy" on them from April 2021.
Apple said in a statement it "strongly disagrees" with the decision that it claims "disregards the important privacy protections" provided by the company's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) prompt.
AGCM said that Apple required third-party developers to obtain specific consent for data collection and linking data for advertising purposes through the ATT screen imposed by the company.
"The terms of the ATT policy are imposed unilaterally, they are detrimental to the interests of Apple's business partners and are not proportionate to achieving the objective of privacy, as claimed by the company," the regulator said in a statement, adding the process does not comply with privacy regulations.
Developers were additionally forced to duplicate consent requests for the same purpose, it added.
ATT was created "to give users a simple way to control whether companies can track their activity across other apps and websites," the tech company said, adding the rules apply equally to all developers, including Apple.
The firm will appeal the regulator's decision and reiterated its commitment "to defend strong privacy protections".
The AGCM said that its investigation had been complex and carried out in coordination with the European Commission and other international antitrust regulators.
($1 = 0.8535 euros)
(Reporting by Cristina Carlevaro and Elvira Pollina, editing by Giulia Segreti, Kirsten Donovan)
An anti-trust violation occurs when a company engages in practices that restrict competition in a market, such as monopolistic behavior or unfair trade practices, which can harm consumers and other businesses.
The App Store is a digital distribution platform for mobile applications on Apple's iOS operating system, allowing users to browse and download apps developed with Apple's iOS software development kit.
A privacy policy is a statement that explains how an organization collects, uses, discloses, and manages a customer's data. It is essential for transparency and compliance with data protection laws.
App Tracking Transparency (ATT) is a feature introduced by Apple that requires apps to obtain user consent before tracking their data across other apps and websites, enhancing user privacy.
A dominant position in a market refers to a company's ability to control a significant share of the market, allowing it to influence prices and competition, which can lead to anti-competitive practices.
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