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Apple's "App Tracking Transparency" (ATT) feature is set to be officially launched in "early spring." EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has now commented on the matter and issued a warning to Apple.
Various companies, including Facebook, have railed against Apple in recent weeks and months over its upcoming "App Tracking Transparency" (ATT) feature. Now, in anticipation of the new iOS data protection requirement, EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has spoken out on the issue. According to Vestager, the new feature would be consistent with proposed EU legislation – but she also issued a warning.
ATT feature is in line with proposed EU legislation
As the news agency Reuters reported, Vestager said she hasn't received any official complaints about Apple's upcoming advertising tracking transparency feature. iPhone and iPad users will receive a warning when apps and websites want to track them, and users will be given the option to allow or deny individual apps the ability to do so. Vestager said the feature appears to be in line with recently proposed EU legislation on digital services/markets.
It's a very good thing to have a clear opt-out option. If you look at the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, those are some of the solutions we're looking at there.
Antitrust lawsuit against Apple: Will Facebook succeed?
While Vestager praised the feature, she also issued a general warning.
It may be anti-competitive if it is proven that Apple does not treat its own apps in the same way.
According to current rumors Facebook is planning a comprehensive antitrust lawsuit against Apple because of the ATT function. However, this could be a very tough and, above all, lengthy battle. It is doubtful whether Facebook will be successful. After all, Apple allows users in iOS 14.5 to choose for themselves whether they want to be tracked by apps or not. If you want to learn more about how the ATT function works, you should take a look at the following article. (Photo by AndreyPril / Bigstockphoto)
