Regulators want to know if Apple isn’t an obstacle for developers. President of the Bundeskartellamt Andreas Mundt welcomed the fact that users themselves determine how their data can be processed. “But a company like Apple, which sets its own rules for its App Store, has to set the rules to promote competition,” he said. “We cast doubt on this case when we saw that Apple’s rules apply to other people, but not to Apple itself.”
In this case, Apple will have an advantage over competitors, the regulator said. Preliminary investigation will show that the tech giant is exempting itself from its own rules. Incidentally, Apple doesn’t add ads to its own apps, but ads can be viewed in the app store. By listing which apps and sites people visit more often, targeted ads can be shown.
Regulators in other countries also oversee Apple’s use of tracking rules. France and Britain said they were closely monitoring the matter, and Poland announced an investigation late last year.
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