Apple's Personalized Ads System Targeted in Privacy Complaint to French Data Regulator

Apple's advertising system for monetizing its apps and services is the target of a new complaint in France that has been brought against it by a lobby group representing startups and venture capital firms (via Bloomberg).

apple personalized ads%403x
Submitted on Tuesday by France Digitale to the country's National Data Protection Commission (CNIL), the complaint focuses on an Apple feature called Personalized Advertising, which shows ads in the App Store, Apple News, and the Stocks app, based on a user's data.

The group said it had acted because Apple's system doesn't ask for the user's permission to receive the targeted ads, which are enabled by default. Users are "insufficiently informed about the use and the processing of its personal data," the association wrote in the complaint, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg.

"Apple keeps the right to choose who is a 'partner' and who is a 'third party' in an arbitrary manner, a quality which may change over time, without the user being informed of such a change," France Digitale wrote, claiming the company is seeking to use data it collects and uses.

The complaint comes ahead of Apple's planned rollout of a new App Tracking Transparency feature, which will limit how much data that third-party advertising systems can gather about users. Following the release of iOS 14.5, all apps that access an iPhone's ad identifier or IDFA will need to ask a user's permission before tracking is allowed.

The upcoming feature has drawn criticism from Facebook and other advertisers who are concerned that many users will not consent to being tracked across apps for ad personalization purposes. However, App Tracking Transparency is different from Apple's own personalized advertising system, which doesn't track users across apps and doesn't identify users to target its ads. Instead, it relies on the anonymous grouping of users' shared characteristics such as apps downloaded, age, country or city of residence, and gender.

However, that hasn't stopped France Digitale from claiming that it still gives Apple an advantage over third-parties when it comes to ‌iPhone‌ app-based advertising. Apple responded to the complaint in a statement given to Bloomberg:

"The allegations in the complaint are patently false and will be seen for what they are, a poor attempt by those who track users to distract from their own actions and mislead regulators and policymakers. Transparency and control for the user are fundamental pillars of our privacy philosophy, which is why we've made App Tracking Transparency equally applicable to all developers including Apple. Privacy is built into the ads we sell on our platform with no tracking."

French Digitale's legal action follows another complaint against Apple that was filed with France's competition authority by advertising companies and publishers in October 2020.

That complaint argued that the enhanced privacy measures brought about by Apple's Apple Tracking Transparency would be anticompetitive. A ruling by the French watchdog is expected soon, and depending on the outcome, Apple could be forced to leave out its enhanced privacy feature in iOS 14.5 for users in the country.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Popular Stories

iOS 18

Here Are Apple's Full iOS 18.5 Release Notes

Tuesday May 6, 2025 2:17 pm PDT by
Apple today seeded the release candidate version of iOS 18.5 to developers and public beta testers, giving us a look at the final version of the update that will be provided to the public next week. With the release candidate, Apple provided release notes, so we have a more complete look at the new features that are included in the update, including those that weren't found during the beta...
siri glow

iPhone Users Now Able to Submit Claims in $95 Million Siri Spying Lawsuit

Wednesday May 7, 2025 11:40 am PDT by
If you owned a Siri-compatible device and had an accidental Siri activation between September 17, 2014 and December 31, 2024, you could be eligible for a payment from Apple as part of a class action lawsuit settlement. Apple in January agreed to pay $95 million to settle a class action lawsuit involving Siri spying accusations, and a website to distribute the funds has now been set up and...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17: What's New With the Cameras

Friday May 2, 2025 3:52 pm PDT by
We've still got months to go before the new iPhone 17 models come out, but a combination of dummy models and leaks have given us some insight into what we can expect in terms of camera changes. Apple is adding new camera features, and changing the design of the camera bump for some models. You might be skeptical of dummy models, but over the years, they've proven to be a highly accurate...
iOS 18

Apple Says iOS 18.5 Coming Soon, Here is What's New

Monday May 5, 2025 8:19 am PDT by
In its press release for the new Pride Band today, Apple said that iOS 18.5 is "upcoming," following more than a month of beta testing. We expect the iOS 18.5 Release Candidate to be released this week, and this should be the final beta version, barring any last-minute bugs or changes. The software update should then be released to the general public next week. iOS 18.5 is a relatively...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Homescreen

Foldable iPhone Said to Have Two Key Advantages

Monday May 5, 2025 6:41 am PDT by
Apple plans to release its first foldable iPhone next year, according to several reporters and analysts who cover the company. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the foldable iPhone will offer two key advantages over other foldable smartphones. First, he said the foldable iPhone will have a "nearly invisible" crease when unfolded. This means the device's...
Nineth iOS 19 Feature

iOS 19 Beta is a Month Away With These New Features for Your iPhone

Thursday May 8, 2025 7:37 am PDT by
The first iOS 19 beta is just one month away, and there are already many new features and changes that are expected with it. Apple should seed the first iOS 19 beta to developers immediately following the WWDC 2025 keynote, which is scheduled for Monday, June 9. Following beta testing, the update should be released to the general public in September. Below, we recap the key iOS 19 rumors...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Homescreen

Apple's Foldable iPhone Display Tech May Set New Industry Standard

Thursday May 8, 2025 3:29 am PDT by
Apple's upcoming foldable iPhone will feature a new type of display panel developed by Samsung that has never been used in a foldable product, claims a source with links to Apple's supply chain. According to the account yeux1122 on the Korean Naver blog, the foldable iPhone will use a custom display process for which Apple will hold branding trademark rights, and that meets Apple's stringent ...
AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Tuesday April 29, 2025 1:30 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...

Top Rated Comments

Mascots Avatar
54 months ago

That would likely require Apple making its own Targeted Advertising opt-in, which might go against Apple's interests. After all, the likely reason Targeted Advertising is not currently opt-in and it's enabled by default is that most users would otherwise not enable it when explicitly prompted about it.
In my opinion, this kind of general demographic targeting is more acceptable (and different) than the aggressive tracking based targeting that Facebook and some other advertisers put in place.

I don’t mind a platform serving me advertisements which are more relevant to me based the information that I offer them, but it’s when they cross that line and build intricate and specific profiles with info and habits beyond what I’d reasonably offer or take that information to sell to others that is rather detestable. For example, I’d like to be presented with apps that might interest me based on my purchases, but really don’t enjoy repeatedly seeing the exact product whose webpage I opened (once and accidentally) for weeks at a time or very specific political advertisements which are targeted based on my race, demographic, and age all at once.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bsolar Avatar
54 months ago

In my opinion, this kind of general demographic targeting is more acceptable (and different) than the aggressive tracking based targeting that Facebook and some other advertisers put in place.
That's for sure, but I don't think there is such an option for third-parties: they are opt-in no matter the kind of targeting they do.

From the point of view of Apple it makes sense since they cannot verify that the tracking is ultimately "anonymized" by the third-party, but note that from the point of view of an end-user that's also true for Apple: they cannot verify that Apple's tracking is ultimately really "anonymized" in demographic targeting as they claim.

It's ultimately a matter of trust and while I agree Apple is far more trustworthy than Facebook, I'd still rather have their targeting being opt-in too.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
az431 Avatar
54 months ago

Why would I or anyone care what information some third-person stranger collects for marketing purposes as long as the information collected doesn't include one's personal identity? Possession of a database of the habits of tens or hundreds of millions of anonymous individuals by a corporate group of people …? doesn't bother me.
I don't know why you don't care, but if you don't care then feel free to accept it. But it is not for you to decide for other people the boundaries of what is private or not private.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bsolar Avatar
54 months ago

Why would they stop the implementation in France? As I understood, it’s actually not strict enough to them? If anything it needs to be improved not disabled
That would likely require Apple making its own Targeted Advertising opt-in, which might go against Apple's interests. After all, the likely reason Targeted Advertising is not currently opt-in and it's enabled by default is that most users would otherwise not enable it when explicitly prompted about it.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
contacos Avatar
54 months ago
Why would they stop the implementation in France? As I understood, it’s actually not strict enough to them? If anything it needs to be improved not disabled
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
5232152 Avatar
54 months ago
Thinking how you get to choose exactly who you give your cookies to these days I think this is fair. The fact Apple could partner with anyone and you have to suck it up isn't great for the consumer.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)