Polish antitrust watchdog investigates Apple over privacy policy

WARSAW (Reuters) -Poland's anti-monopoly office UOKiK is investigating whether Apple is restricting competition in the mobile advertising market through its privacy policy, it said on Tuesday.

The regulator suspects that the tech giant's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework, introduced in iOS 14.5 and later versions, could limit third-party apps' ability to collect user data for personalised ads while favouring Apple’s own advertising service.

"We suspect that the ATT policy may have misled users about the level of privacy protection while simultaneously increasing Apple’s competitive advantage over independent publishers," UOKiK President Tomasz Chrostny was quoted as saying in a statement.

"Such practices may constitute an abuse of dominant position."

If confirmed, Apple could face a fine of up to 10% of its annual turnover in Poland.

Apple said the ATT framework was created to offer consumers a way to control whether companies can track their activity, helping them to safeguard their privacy.

"It is no surprise that the data tracking industry continues to oppose our efforts to give users back control over their data, and now intense pressure could force us to withdraw this feature, to the detriment of European consumers," it said in an emailed statement.

"We will work with the Polish competition authority to ensure Apple can continue to offer users this valuable privacy tool."

Antitrust authorities in Germany, Italy, and Romania are also investigating Apple's ATT policies, UOKiK said, adding that in March, a French authority imposed a fine of 150 million euros ($172.86 million) on the company.

($1 = 0.8678 euros)

(Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)