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Targeted Apple fined 8 million euros in France
The American giant was sanctioned for having imposed trackers on its users in France without their explicit consent. He will call.
The American giant Apple said it was disappointed with the decision, because it had quickly brought itself into compliance with the law during the investigation by the French authorities.
REUTERS
The French Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) has fined Apple 8 million euros for having imposed trackers on its users in France, without their explicit consent, a-t she stated Wednesday. The investigation was launched by the French guardian of privacy on the internet following a complaint from the France Digital association, which brings together French start-ups, in particular software developers distributed via the American group’s application store.
The relatively limited nature of the fine is explained by the fact that the American giant quickly brought itself into compliance during the CNIL investigation, which took place in mid-2021. In addition, these identifiers only allowed Apple to target Internet users when they were browsing the App Store, therefore in a very limited field. Finally, the authority was only able to penalize breaches in France.
“We are disappointed by this decision (…) and we will appeal,” reacted Apple in a statement to the press. “The CNIL has recognized that the way” in which advertisements are now distributed in the App Store “prioritizes the protection of user privacy,” added the American giant.
For their part, French digital marketing professionals welcomed the decision. “This sanction (…) once once more testifies to the extent of Apple’s abusive practices, currently contested all over the world, from Japan to the United States via Poland”, estimated the Digital Alliance.
Pre-checked consent
In fact, the old version 14.6 of Apple’s operating system deposited “by default” identifiers on the brand’s mobile devices (iPhone, iPad, etc.). These identifiers allowed Apple to personalize the advertisements displayed on its application store. If the user did not want this tracking, he had to uncheck a box in the device settings.
“It has been years” that the position of the European Court of Justice and the courts has been “very clear”, explained the secretary general of the CNIL Louis Dutheillet de Lamothe: valid consent “cannot be a pre-ticked box”, he pointed out.
At the time of the complaint, the general manager of France Digitale, Nicolas Brien, had castigated the “double standards” of Apple. The Apple brand allowed itself a pre-ticked box for its plotters, while it recently imposed on third-party applications to request explicit consent from the Internet user for their own cookies.
The sanction only concerns France, as it falls under the European e-Privacy Directive, which only allows national sanctions. The European Data Protection Regulation, which provides for sanctions at European level, does not apply in this specific case.
(AFP)
