Apple makes legal profit in France due to changes in the app’s privacy

“We can not intervene simply because there could be a negative impact on companies in the ecosystem,” Isabelle de Silva, head of France’s competition authority, told a news conference. “At this stage, we have not yet found any striking examples of discrimination.”

However, the authority said it intends to conduct an in-depth investigation to determine whether Apple’s changes can be considered “self-inflicted” by setting stricter rules on third-party apps than it does on itself. The investigation can extend to next year, said Ms. Silva said.

Wednesday’s decision removes one source of doubt about Apple’s plans, announced last year, to require apps on its smartphones and tablets to get opt ​​- in permission from users before submitting their ad identifiers, unique strings of letters and collects figures that companies use to identify individuals. to show them targeted ads and monitor how the ad campaigns are performing.

Advocates and regulators on privacy have generally talked about movements like those of Apple, saying that consumers should have as much control as possible over how their data is collected and used. In recent years, a push for greater privacy online has led to new laws in Europe and California. But companies in the online advertising ecosystem have said that such changes have a competitive disadvantage.

The companies behind the complaint, filed last fall by a group of trade associations, argued that few Apple users agree to be tracked, making it harder for apps to monetize personalized ads, and the company that sells them market, disadvantaged.

Damien Geradin, the competition lawyer representing the coalition of industry groups, said the companies were disappointed with the French decision, but were satisfied that the government would follow an in-depth investigation. “Apple is not off the hook yet,” he said. Geradin said.

Apple has welcomed the decision, saying it will work with the authorities to investigate. “We firmly believe that users’ data belongs to them, and that they should control when the data is shared and with whom,” Apple’s spokesman said.

The decision of the French regulator comes as technical giants, including Apple, Alphabet Inc.’s

Google, Amazon.com Inc.

on Facebook Inc.

is increasingly under scrutiny in Europe and the US – both on the basis of antitrust for their treatment of smaller competitors, and also on privacy grounds, for their collection of personal information.

Wednesday’s decision is the first major decision to highlight how the push to protect users ‘privacy could conflict with regulators’ efforts to protect online competition. This is because one of the most popular business models of technology is advertising on individuals based on their online behavior, and smaller businesses sometimes accuse the giants of using privacy as a pretext to cut off the data they need to do so.

Earlier this month, some companies complained that Google’s plan to stop supporting or using technology that monitors individuals’ web browsing for advertising purposes would simply increase Google’s advertising monopoly because it already has so much information about users of its own properties. .

“We are seeing more and more competition issues around privacy and data protection,” she said. De Silva said on Wednesday, adding that she had sought advice from the French privacy regulator, which she said supported Apple’s plans as good for users and applied neutrally.

Mrs. De Silva said her authority could also investigate Google’s plan to remove the detection technology from its Chrome browser, similar to the UK Competition and Markets Authority.

Facebook also attacked the Apple plan, arguing that it was an abuse of dominance that would harm smaller companies. But limiting Apple’s identifiers will also undermine one of the strengths of Facebook’s business: how it collects data from mobile applications about what people do to the apps, what they’re looking for, what they buy and more.

The complaint that led to Wednesday’s decision concerns Apple’s move to introduce its own language that users are asked to turn on, apart from the directions already required by European privacy law.

The complaint also highlighted how Apple could still collect data about iPhone users using their Apple apps, giving Cupertino, California, an unfair advantage over other apps, if it sells targeted ads in its own App Store. At this last point, the authority said it would continue to investigate.

In her press conference, Ms. Silva said that dominant companies have the right to draw up rules for their services, as long as the rules are not competitive or unfairly applied.

“We will be very vigilant,” she said. Silva said.

Write to Sam Schechner by [email protected]