Security News > 2023 > January > France fines Apple for targeted App Store ads without consent
France's data protection authority has fined Apple €8,000,000 for collecting user data for targeted advertising on the App Store without requesting or securing the user's consent.
"The CNIL services found that under the old version 14.6 of the operating system of the iPhone when a user visited the App Store, identifiers used for several purposes, including personalization of ads on the App Store, were by default automatically read on the terminal without obtaining consent." - CNIL. CNIL suggests that Apple could keep the option "Buried" in the settings menu as long as it prompted the user to consent to App Store tracking upon the device's first setup, which wasn't the case in iOS 14.6.
Apple has remediated this issue since then, so newer versions of iOS treat user consent matters under the applicable data protection laws.
We are disappointed with this decision given the CNIL has previously recognized that how we serve search ads in the App Store prioritizes user privacy, and we will appeal.
Apple Search Ads goes further than any other digital advertising platform we are aware of by providing users with a clear choice as to whether or not they would like personalized ads.
Apple Search Ads never tracks users across 3rd party apps and websites, and only uses first-party data to personalize ads.