Apple is considering discontinuing the transparency feature in Europe news

The American electronics and technology company (Apple) announced that it is studying the possibility of turning off a feature that prevents smart device applications from tracking user behavior, across various services and websites, for advertising purposes in several European countries.

Apple indicated that the reason for this is because there is opposition to such a feature on the part of companies and entities that benefit economically from tracking user activities.

The company said it may be forced to do so due to intense lobbying efforts in Germany, Italy and other European countries to withdraw this feature, harming European consumers.

This App Tracking Transparency feature gives users the option to allow the app to record their activities in other apps and on third-party websites for advertising purposes, when they launch the app for the first time.

Since this feature first appeared 5 years ago, it has faced criticism from the advertising sector, especially from Meta Platforms, which owns the social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The “application tracking transparency” feature is now the focus of numerous investigations conducted by competition authorities in several countries.

Apple said it continues to urge the relevant authorities in Germany, Italy, and throughout Europe to allow it to continue providing this important privacy tool to users.

Violation of regulations

In Germany, the Federal Antitrust Office reached a preliminary conclusion last February that the design of this function may violate regulations, noting that the requirements apply only to other application providers, not to Apple.

On the other hand, Apple confirmed that its applications do not collect data from applications from other service providers.

However, the German Antitrust Office criticized the inability of the rules to prevent the company itself from collecting data from the App Store, the Apple ID application, or connected devices and using it for advertising purposes.

Although the German office did not clarify when it would announce its final report on the “application tracking transparency” feature, competition authorities proposed complex solutions that would undermine this feature from Apple’s point of view.