French antitrust complaint alleges Apple allows itself to run personalized ads on iOS without getting user consent

With the release of iOS 14.5, Apple’s new App Tracking Transparency policies require developers to get explicit consent before being able to share user data with third-party advertising networks. A new French complaint alleges that Apple’s own advertising network is not held to the same standard, as first reported by Bloomberg.

Specifically, the complaint says Apple itself is allowed to use data from across Apple’s apps to serve targeted ads, by default. Apple’s system does not technically fall under App Tracking Transparency (ATT) rules because there is no third-party data sharing, but it is viewed by the complainants as unfair treatment nonetheless.

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