French regulator fines Apple $162 million for anticompetitive use of privacy tool

French regulators fined Apple €150 million for allegedly using its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework in a way that unfairly advantaged Apple’s own advertising while disadvantaging third-party apps through complex consent pop-ups, causing economic harm to publishers. The French Competition Authority said the issue was not ATT’s purpose but its implementation and did not require changes to ATT; Apple expressed disappointment with the decision.