Polish regulator to investigate Apple privacy policy

Polish competition authority UOKiK has launched an investigation into Apple’s iOS privacy policy. According to the watchdog, the new privacy rules may violate competition rules in the country.

In April, Apple released new privacy rules for iOS that would restrict advertisers from tracking iPhone users’ online activity. Users can choose for themselves which companies are allowed to collect personal data. Via the settings it is also possible to disable tracking by default.

According to the Polish competition authority, these rules make it more difficult for third parties to collect personal data in order to send personalized advertisements, Reuters writes. Apple can still do that, so UOKiK is investigating whether Apple wants to eliminate competition in the personalized advertising market in order to better sell its own services. If that turns out to be the case, according to the watchdog, there is abuse of a dominant position.

The European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, has previously warned Apple against excluding competition under the guise of ‘privacy’. Vestager did not only refer to the personalized ads, but also to the fact that iOS users cannot install apps from outside the App Store. Apple did not respond to the warning at the time.