Four French online advertising lobbies have filed an antitrust complaint against Apple over changes the iPhone maker will make to privacy features within the company’s iOS mobile operating system.
Under the Apple’s iOS 14 operating system, users will be asked whether they’ll allow installed mobile apps to gather a key identifier used to define campaign ads and send ads that are targeted to them.
Mathieu Rosemain for Reuters:
The four associations – IAB France, MMAF, SRI and UDECAM – said the changes brought by Apple did not meet European Union privacy rules. They added Apple failed to hold itself to the same standards, as it would still be able to send targeted ads to iOS users without asking them for prior consent.
“This case is not about privacy; it is about Apple abusing its market power to distort competition,” the four associations said in a joint statement.
The new iOS 14 privacy features could lead to severe revenue decline for publishers and drive many ad tech vendors out of business, the four associations said.
The joint complaint was filed with France’s antitrust competition authority.
MacDailyNews Take: Aww, French online advertisers are worried that they won’t be able to target iPhone users who don’t want to be tagged and tracked like animals. Isn’t that just too bad?
Apple said in a statement to Reuters, “With iOS 14, we’re giving users the choice whether or not they want to allow apps to track them by linking their information with data from third parties for the purpose of advertising, or sharing their information with data brokers.”
