Germany is exploring the possible adverse effects of Apple’s app tracking transparency on competition

Germany has launched an investigation into Apple. Objective: To determine whether US company surveillance rules and anti-surveillance technology comply with the country’s competing laws. And the question is really worth asking.

The announcement was Posted by Bundeskartellamt on June 14th, Federal Cartel Office. Authority focuses specifically on the ATT framework for app tracking transparency. This technology caused a lot of talk when it was implemented in iOS 15.5, especially as it made Facebook scream, condemning the injustice of the process.

Before blaming Apple Germany, we must first recall how ATT works.

Effects on ADT, tracking and advertising

Apps tracking transparency went live a few months ago. It attacks the old mechanism found on all devices for browsing the web: personal identifier. As for smartphones, it is used for navigation and applications. It is possible, at least to some extent, that these types of function coordinators follow users’ actions in other applications.