Apple Fined €1.5 Billion by French Antitrust Authority Over Privacy Violations

According to PANews, the French antitrust authority has imposed a €1.5 billion (approximately $1.62 billion) fine on Apple. The penalty is due to Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) system, which allegedly does not comply with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) privacy rules. The French authority criticized Apple's ATT framework, describing it as "unnecessary and disproportionate." They argued that the implementation of the system constitutes "abusive behavior" in terms of competition law. The ATT system requires applications to display multiple pop-up windows, complicating the user experience and hindering advertisers' ability to effectively adhere to GDPR regulations.