On December 22, 2025, Apple found itself at the center of a major regulatory storm in Italy, as the country’s antimonopoly authority, the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM), handed the tech giant a hefty fine of 98.6 million euros. The decision, reported by multiple outlets and confirmed by the AGCM’s own announcement, marks one of the most significant antitrust penalties levied against Apple in Europe in recent years.
This latest action stems from a lengthy investigation—one that began in May 2023—into Apple’s practices surrounding its App Store and the rules it imposes on mobile application developers. According to AGCM, Apple has abused its dominant position in the distribution of mobile apps, especially through policies that, regulators say, unfairly restrict third-party developers while giving Apple itself a competitive edge within its tightly controlled iOS ecosystem.
At the heart of the dispute is Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature, introduced in iOS 14.5 back in April 2021. ATT was designed, at least on paper, to give users more control over how their data is tracked across apps and websites. When users download or update an app, they are prompted with a clear question: do they want to allow the app to track their activity? On the surface, this sounds like a win for privacy advocates and everyday consumers alike.
But Italian regulators saw things differently. According to the AGCM, Apple’s implementation of ATT forced third-party developers to jump through extra hoops to obtain user consent—often requiring users to give permission twice—while Apple’s own apps and services faced fewer restrictions. The regulator argued that this double standard amounted to unfair competition, making it harder for rival developers to pursue business models based on targeted advertising, which are often more affordable for consumers.
“Apple has used its almost exclusive control over the iOS ecosystem to impose unilateral obligations on app developers without reasonable justification,” stated the AGCM in its 199-page decision. The authority further claimed that these policies have been in place since 2021, and that they are not isolated incidents but rather part of a deliberate and consistent strategy.
To make matters worse for Apple, the AGCM found that the company’s privacy mechanism, while ostensibly designed to protect users, actually made it unnecessarily complicated for developers to collect the consent needed to operate their own advertising models. According to the regulator, this complexity was not necessary to achieve the stated privacy goals and, in practice, ended up distorting competition in the mobile app market.
Developers and consumers who rely on the App Store were directly affected, the AGCM asserted. By limiting alternative business models and keeping everything within the Apple ecosystem, the company effectively excluded cheaper or more innovative options that might have benefited users. The AGCM’s findings echoed concerns raised in other parts of Europe, where similar investigations have scrutinized Apple’s dominance and its impact on the broader digital market.
Apple, for its part, has pushed back strongly against the Italian regulator’s conclusions. In a statement following the announcement of the fine, Apple argued that its ATT feature is “a privacy protection tool that gives people control over their data—not an instrument of anti-competitive behavior.” The company further indicated its intention to appeal the decision, though it remains unclear how long that process will take or what the final outcome might be. Until the appeal is resolved, Apple is not required to pay the fine, but it does have 90 days to report to the AGCM on how it intends to comply with the authority’s demands.
Apple’s troubles in Italy are not happening in isolation. In July, the company filed an appeal against a 500 million euro fine imposed by the European Union for allegedly anti-competitive actions in its App Store—specifically, for restricting developers from informing users about alternative offers outside the App Store itself. According to AGCM, the Italian case is part of a broader, coordinated effort among European and international regulators to address concerns about the power of digital gatekeepers.
Italy’s AGCM has a history of taking on major tech companies. In 2021, it fined both Apple and Google 10 million euros each for aggressive data practices that lacked clear explanations about how personal information would be used. That same year, Apple and Amazon were hit with a joint fine of 173.3 million euros for allegedly restricting the sale of Apple products on Amazon’s Italian marketplace. And in November, Apple confirmed that its Apple Ads and Apple Maps services would be subject to new obligations under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act, which is designed to protect competition and ensure greater regulatory oversight of so-called “gatekeepers.”
Other European countries are also scrutinizing Apple’s practices. Earlier this year, French antitrust authorities fined Apple 150 million euros over an app location-tracking feature, while a similar investigation into App Tracking Transparency is underway in Poland. These cases collectively signal a growing willingness among European regulators to challenge the world’s largest technology companies and push for greater transparency and fairness in digital markets.
The AGCM’s decision also highlights a fundamental tension in today’s technology landscape: how to balance privacy protection with fair competition. While Apple has long positioned itself as a champion of user privacy—sometimes even clashing with other tech giants over how data should be handled—regulators are increasingly wary that privacy measures can be wielded as tools for market control. As the AGCM put it, “The restrictions imposed by Apple are neither necessary nor proportionate to the stated aim of privacy protection.”
For developers, the stakes are high. Many rely on targeted advertising to fund free or low-cost apps, and being forced to comply with stricter rules—especially when Apple does not face the same constraints—can make it harder to compete. For consumers, meanwhile, these battles may determine not only the price and variety of apps available but also the degree of control they have over their own digital lives.
As Apple prepares to contest the Italian regulator’s decision, the outcome could set an important precedent for how far tech giants can go in shaping the rules of their own platforms. The world will be watching to see whether privacy and competition can truly coexist—or whether the balance continues to tip in favor of the companies that control the digital gateways.