A former senior official at the Competition and Markets Authority has filed a £2bn claim against Apple at the Competition Appeal Tribunal on behalf of thousands of app developers, alleging that the company’s implementation of its app tracking privacy rules was unfair and caused them financial losses.

The claim was brought by Ann Pope, who was senior director of the CMA’s antitrust division for ten years. It alleges that when Apple introduced its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework in 2021, it imposed stricter privacy requirements on third-party app developers than on its own services.

ATT requires third-party iOS apps to ask for a user’s permission before tracking their activity across other companies’ apps and websites. The policy has drawn regulatory scrutiny in Europe over claims that Apple’s own apps were treated more favourably.

The double consent allegation

According to the claim, third-party developers had to secure what the claimants describe as “double consent”, with users asked to agree both to the app’s own data protection policy and to Apple’s ATT prompt. Some reports suggested that opt-out rates from tracking in third-party apps reached as high as 80 per cent after the policy came in.

Apple did not require users to consent under ATT for its own apps, on the basis that they were all part of the same entity. The claimants allege this gave Apple’s advertising ecosystem a “competitive advantage” because it had access to more customer data.

The claimants said the practices caused “significant losses” for businesses, some of which saw steep declines in advertising revenue. The CMA has separately noted that some businesses reported significant falls in advertising income after ATT was introduced, while Apple’s own advertising business grew.

Pope said: “Privacy is an important protection for consumers, but it should be applied fairly and in a way that ensures businesses of all sizes can compete on a level playing field. It cannot become a reason for digital platforms to play by one set of rules while forcing app developers to play by another.”

The collective action was brought by ATT Collective Action, with the law firm Hausfeld acting on its behalf. It is being funded by TR Global Funding, a private investment fund based in Jersey.

Regulatory action in Europe

The UK claim follows enforcement action against the same framework elsewhere in Europe. Apple has been fined a combined £200m by regulators in France and Italy over ATT, with both authorities finding that its position amounted to an abuse of market power. The French competition authority imposed a €150m fine on 31 March 2025, finding that the way ATT was implemented was neither necessary nor proportionate.

On 17 August 2026, following an investigation by Germany’s Bundeskartellamt, Apple agreed to change its ATT rules so that third parties are treated in line with its own apps, including aligning the consent prompts shown for its own services and for third-party apps.

In the UK, the CMA has designated Apple as having strategic market status under the UK’s digital competition rules, and has secured commitments from Apple and Google on app store conduct, including pledges against preferential treatment of their own apps.

Apple rejected the claims. The company said: “We believe privacy is a fundamental human right, and we created App Tracking Transparency to give users a simple way to control whether apps have permission to track their activity across other companies’ apps and websites.

“Apple is bound by the exact same requirements as all developers under ATT, and this feature has been embraced by our customers and praised by privacy advocates and data protection authorities around the world, including in the UK. We disagree with these claims, and will continue to defend strong privacy protections for our users.”

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