“The Antitrust Authority has ascertained for each company two violations of the Consumer Code, one for informative deficiencies and another for aggressive practices related to the acquisition and use of consumer data for commercial purposes.” Italy’s Competition and Market Authority is noted in its statement, translated by AppleInsider. The charges against the two companies revolve around their commercial use of users’ personal data. The companies, meanwhile, have consistently emphasized privacy in their ads. Apple reportedly used the data entered by users when creating the Apple ID for commercial purposes. Apple has responded by saying that building IDs will help the company provide personalized experiences to its users. Google also responded to the allegation by saying, “We give people simple controls to manage their information and limit the use of personal data, and we work hard to be fully compliant with the consumer protection rules.”
Google and Apple are under fire over using personal data for commercial purposes
The Italy Competition and Market Authority released more details about the allegations of the two companies in its statement. It added that “Google bases its economic activity on offering a wide range of products and services connected to the Internet… also based on user profiling and carried out thanks to their data. Apple collects, profiles, and uses user data for commercial purposes through the use of its devices and services. Therefore, even without proceeding with any transfer of data to third parties.” Moreover, the Antitrust Authority concluded that “Apple directly exploits its economic value through a promotional activity to increase the sale of its products and/or those of third parties through its App Store, iTunes Store and Apple Books commercial platforms.” In recent years, Apple and Google have faced numerous charges in Italy and had to pay millions of dollars in fine. Dates back to May, Google faced a $123 million fine in Italy for “abuse of market dominance.” This was because Google didn’t allow Enel X Italia to release an Android Auto version of its JuicePass app. On the other hand, Apple also faced a $12 million fine by Italy’s Competition Authority (AGCM). The AGCM said that Apple had some false claims about the water-resistance of some iPhone models.
