Apple faces £2bil lawsuit in UK over app privacy feature

Apple faces a £2 billion lawsuit from UK app developers who claim the tech giant is giving its own advertising services an unfair advantage. The legal action, filed with the Competition Appeal Tribunal by law firm Hausfeld, centers on Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) system, introduced in 2021. This feature requires apps to obtain user consent before tracking their activity across other apps and websites, with the trade-off being loss of access to user data for targeted ads.

The developers argue that ATT was designed and implemented unfairly and without proper consultation, imposing stricter requirements on third-party app developers compared to Apple's own services. This has left UK app developers struggling to adapt their business models, resulting in significant losses. Authorities in multiple European countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Romania, and Poland, have initiated similar investigations into ATT.

Ann Pope, a former official at the Competition and Markets Authority and one of the claimants, emphasized the importance of the lawsuit to protect the rights of British businesses and ensure that Apple's rules are fair. She stated that the aim is to compensate the losses suffered by these companies.

Apple maintains that the ATT feature was created to give users a simple way to control app permissions, emphasizing that it is subject to the same requirements as all developers under ATT. The company also claims that the feature has been embraced by its customers and praised by privacy advocates, and disputes the allegations made in the lawsuit.