France Fines Apple €8 Million for Targeted App Store Ads

French regulators today fined Apple €8 million for breaching France's data protection rules with targeted App Store ads. France's National Commission for Informatics and Liberty (CNIL) says that Apple did not get the consent of French iPhone users before using identifiers to present targeted ads in the iOS 14.6 update.

iOS App Store General Feature Desaturated
Apple was collecting information and using that data for ads by default, and CNIL says that users had to undertake a "large number of actions" to turn advertising off in the Privacy section of the Settings app. As a result, CNIL ruled that Apple breached Article 82 of the Data Protection Act, leading to a sanction of 8 million euros.

The CNIL services have found that under the old version 14.6 of the iPhone operating system, when a user went to the App Store, identifiers for several purposes, including purposes of customizing advertising ads displayed on the App Store, were by default automatically read on the terminal without collecting consent.

In a statement to Fortune's Patrick McGee, Apple said that it is "disappointed" with the decision and plans to appeal, noting that it only uses its own data for personalized ads.

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. Additionally, Apple Search Ads never tracks users across 3rd party apps and websites, and only uses first-party data to personalize ads. We believe privacy is a fundamental human right and a user should always get to decide whether to share their data and with whom.

Today's fine dates back to a 2021 investigation that CNIL launched after a complaint from the France Digitale association. France Digitale, a lobbying group that represents startups and venture capital firms, said that the iOS 14 update did not comply with European protections for personal data. Apple has since changed how targeted advertising works, and the opt-in and opt-out procedures.

Popular Stories

iPhone Air

Report: 'Virtually No Demand' for iPhone Air

Wednesday October 22, 2025 3:22 am PDT by
Apple is "drastically" cutting production of the iPhone Air and shifting focus toward the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro models, Nikkei Asia reports. The business publication claims to have learned of a major cut to iPhone Air production motivated by weaker-than-expected consumer interest, nearly to "end of production levels." Despite early reports of the iPhone Air selling out within hours of...
ios 26 1 liquid glass opaque

iOS 26.1 Beta 4 Lets Users Control Liquid Glass Transparency with New Toggle

Monday October 20, 2025 10:57 am PDT by
With the fourth betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS 26.1, Apple has introduced a new setting that's designed to allow users to customize the look of Liquid Glass. The toggle lets users select from a clear look for Liquid Glass, or a tinted look. Clear is the current Liquid Glass design, which is more transparent and shows the background underneath buttons, bars, and menus, while tinted ...
sam sung auction

Former Apple Employee Sam Sung Changed His Name to Avoid Attention

Wednesday October 22, 2025 4:44 pm PDT by
Back in 2012, an Apple retail employee named Sam Sung went viral because his name is similar to Samsung, one of Apple's main competitors. In a recent interview with Business Insider, he detailed that period in his life, how Apple responded, and he explained why he ultimately changed his name. Someone posted an image of Sung's Apple business card on Reddit in 2012, and it spread rapidly....
cadillac lyric infotainment

GM to Remove CarPlay from All Future Vehicles, Including Gas Cars

Wednesday October 22, 2025 11:34 am PDT by
General Motors began phasing out support for CarPlay in its electric vehicles back in 2023, leading to complaints from iPhone users, but the company has no plans to back down. In fact, GM is going further and plans to remove CarPlay from all future gas vehicles, too. In an interview with The Verge, GM CEO Mary Barra said that the company opted to prioritize its platform for EVs, but the...
All Screen iPhone 2027 Feature 1

Apple's Plan to Launch Three New iPhone Designs Allegedly Revealed

Wednesday October 22, 2025 6:24 am PDT by
Apple plans to launch a new type of iPhone every year for the foreseeable future, according to an Asia-based source. The detailed information was shared by the account "yeux1122" in a blog post on the Korean platform Naver, citing domestic trend and component research companies. Corroborating other reports, Apple will apparently launch its first foldable iPhone in 2026, featuring a...
maxresdefault

Here's How the iOS 26.1 Transparency Toggle Changes Liquid Glass

Monday October 20, 2025 1:55 pm PDT by
With the fourth beta of iOS 26.1, Apple added a toggle that makes Liquid Glass more opaque and reduces transparency. We tested the beta to see where the toggle works and what it looks like. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. If you have the latest iOS 26.1 beta, you can go to Settings > Display and Brightness to get to the new option. Tap on Liquid Glass, then...
iOS 26 Feature

iOS 26.1 to iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Saturday October 18, 2025 11:00 am PDT by
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across the Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, Clock, and Safari apps. More features and changes will follow in future ...
iOS 26

What's New in iOS 26.1 Beta 4

Monday October 20, 2025 1:02 pm PDT by
Even though we're at the fourth beta of iOS 26.1, Apple is continuing to add new features. In fact, the fourth beta has some of the biggest changes that we'll get when iOS 26.1 releases to the public later this month. We've rounded up what's new below. Liquid Glass Transparency Toggle Apple added a toggle for customizing the look of Liquid Glass. In Settings > Display and Brightness,...
iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features for Your iPhone

Wednesday October 22, 2025 6:15 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more. iOS 26.1 is currently in beta testing. The update will likely be released in the first half of November, and it is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer, but some...

Top Rated Comments

Wanted797 Avatar
37 months ago

Not to defend Apple, but how is this any different than quite literally any other version of targeted ads? I am not being sarcastic or anything I am genuinely confused unless everyone has just been getting fines and just shrugging it off then okay
Because Apple made a big song and dance (and rightfully so) about getting user permission to have targeted ads.

Then they went and abused it for themselves in the App Store.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Love-hate ? relationship Avatar
37 months ago
Good but what’s 8M for them? Sanctions should be based on capitals percentage
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DFZD Avatar
37 months ago

There's a reason Europe has never created an Apple, or Facebook, or Google...
They did create Audi, BMW and Mercedes however, and also fined them heavily over dieselgate. Learn to accept when something is wrong.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheDailyApple Avatar
37 months ago
This is where I’m (uncharacteristically) happy about government intervention. Data and privacy protections are behind the times, and any move to punish companies for collecting data they weren’t given explicit permission to collect is usually good.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sw1tcher Avatar
37 months ago

There's a reason Europe has never created an Apple, or Facebook, or Google...
Are you suggesting that Europe not having large market-abusing anti-competitive companies such as Apple, Facebook, Google, Amazon, etc is a bad thing? ?

https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/technology/327602-dominant-force-threatens-current-and-future-innovation/

https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/10/6/21505027/congress-big-tech-antitrust-report-facebook-google-amazon-apple-mark-zuckerberg-jeff-bezos-tim-cook

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/04/republicans-and-democrats-increasingly-agree-big-tech-is-too-powerful/
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TimHalfCooked Avatar
37 months ago
This is just a blip, Tim is still learning. Not long now, he will be able to target everyone with gambling ads and get away with it.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)