Poland’s UOKiK investigating Apple’s iOS Apple Tracking Transparency

Apple is facing an investigation in Poland by the company’s antimonopoly watchdog, UOKiK,over whether its new rules on privacy and personal data processing for iOS devices violate competition law, reports Reuters.

The Polish regulator said Apple’s new rules have significantly reduced the ability of third-party apps to obtain personal data in order to send personalized adverts.

“We want to examine whether Apple’s actions may be aimed at eliminating competitors in the market for personalized advertising services, the objective being to better sell their own service,” UOKiK President Tomasz Chrostny said in a statement.

Starting with iOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.5, and tvOS 14.5, apps need to receive the user’s permission through the AppTrackingTransparency framework to track them or access their device’s advertising identifier. Tracking refers to the act of linking user or device data collected from your app with user or device data collected from other companies’ apps, websites, or offline properties for targeted advertising or advertising measurement purposes. Tracking also refers to sharing user or device data with data brokers.