Apple investigated for its foul play.

The French Competition Authority has filed a complaint against Apple, alleging that the iPhone manufacturer has abused its dominant market position by imposing conditions on the use of personal data for advertising purposes. This comes after the tech giant implemented a privacy policy in 2021 that requires developers to seek permission to track users' activity within apps, a tactic used to build a digital user profile for more targeted and personalized ads.

The French Competition Authority argues that these rules are discriminatory and lack transparency. An investigation will be launched as the implementation is likely to have affected several related markets for advertising services.

The introduction of the privacy policy has sparked criticism, as Apple itself can tailor ads based on its own first-party data. Other companies do not have access to this information and claim that Apple is exploiting its position in this way.

Apple defends the policy, stating that the permission request gives users control. Users also have the option to disable personalized ads, which 80 percent of users have done, according to the company. The problem with Apple's defense is that they advertise their own services and products on the platform without the ability to disable them in a similar manner.

The complaint from French authorities is the first against Apple regarding advertising regulations. Germany, Italy, and Poland have also initiated similar investigations.