German regulator forces Apple to make data-tracking prompts neutral

Germany's independent competition authority, the Bundeskartellamt, has ruled that Apple abused its market position by designing its data-tracking consent prompts in a way that favored its own apps over those made by third-party developers.

The case centers on Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework, introduced in April 2021, which shows users a pop-up asking whether they want to allow an app to collect and share their personal data for tracking purposes.

What the regulator found

According to the Bundeskartellamt, the wording, design and choice of options in the prompts shown for Apple's own apps tended to encourage users to consent, while the equivalent prompts for third-party apps used wording and symbols that could discourage users from giving consent.

Required changes

As a result of the ruling, Apple must remove potentially discouraging symbols and wording from the predefined consent requests used for third-party providers. Going forward, the prompts must be neutral in content, wording and layout regardless of which app is requesting data access.

Apple has been given four months to implement the changes and must test the revised prompts together with app developers. The Bundeskartellamt said the commitments will remain in force for seven years, with an independent monitoring trustee overseeing Apple's compliance.

According to Engadget, Apple has been asked for comment on the ruling but had not responded at the time of the report.