The incredibly successful large tech companies have some drawbacks. Apple lost its appeal against the special abuse control regime that Germany's competitive watchdog applied last year. iPhone manufacturers can expect to continue to face bespoke competitive management in major European markets, along with other similar laws (such as the EU DMA).
On Tuesday, Reuters reported a ruling by the German Federal Court of Justice that confirmed Apple's five-year regulatory designation applied by the Federal Cartel Office (FCO) in April 2023.
Last month, FCO said it suspects that the transparency framework tracking Apple's apps corresponds to self-likeness and is banned under the administration. As such, Apple may be forced to apply equal treatment to its own data collection of advertising that the platform requests third-party apps through permission pop-ups.
In response to comments on the failure of the legal challenge, Apple emailed us a statement against the court's decision.
“Apple is proud to be an engine of innovation, job creation and competition in all the markets we operate in,” the statement added. “We disagree with today's FCJ's decision to maintain the FCO designation. The FCO designation discounts the value of a business model that places user privacy and security at its core.”
Apple is not the only high-tech giant to be subject to FCO's special abuse control. Google, Meta and Microsoft are also members of this elite club.