By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS, March 10 (Reuters) – Apple’s proposed changes to its app tracking rules do not resolve antitrust issues in the mobile advertising market, associations representing German publishers and advertisers said on Tuesday as they urged the country’s antitrust authority to slap a fine on the U.S. tech giant.
The call by the groups which included media agencies and the German Association of the Branded Goods Industry came three months after the German antitrust authority sought their feedback to Apple’s changes to its App Tracking Transparency tool.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the statement.
The Cupertino, California-based company has said the tool, which allows users to block advertisers from tracking them across different applications, is designed to allow users to control their privacy.
However, it triggered criticism from Facebook-owner Meta Platforms, publishers, advertisers and app developers whose business models rely on advertising tracking, prompting the German competition enforcer to charge Apple with abusing its market power in February last year.
To address the German concerns, Apple last December proposed to introduce neutral consent prompts for both its services and third-party apps and to align the wording, content and visual design of these messages.
It also offered to simplify the consent process so developers can obtain user permission for advertising-related data processing in a way that complies with data protection law.
The associations said the proposed changes do not fix the issues outlined by the German watchdog.
“The proposed commitments would not change the negative effects of the App Tracking Transparency Framework,” Bernd Nauen, chief executive of the German Advertising Federation, said in a joint letter signed by the trade bodies.
“Apple would remain the data gatekeeper and would continue to decide who gets access to advertising-relevant data and how companies can communicate with their end customers,” he said.
The associations urged the watchdog to reject Apple’s proposals, order the company to stop the app tracking tool and impose a fine.
Companies found guilty of breaching Germany’s antitrust rules risk fines as much as 10% of their annual turnover.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
