Italy: Issued EUR 10 million fine to Apple for misuse of data for commercial purposes

On 9 November 2021, the Italian Competition And Markets Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato- CMA) issued a EUR 10 million ruling against Apple for violating the Italian Customer Code. In particular, the CMA found that Apple failed to provide consumers with information on its consumer data processing policy and engaged in "aggressive" practices to collect consumer data for commercial purposes. The CMA stated that Apple collected and processed the consumer data in order to profile users to promote and increase the sale of its products and of third parties through its platforms App Store, iTunes Store and Apple Books, without disclosing and informing users that their data would be used for commercial purposes. According to CMA, Apple only informed users that the collection and processing of their data were necessary to use its services and improve the users' experience. Finally, the CMA found that Apple's acquisition of users' consent architecture failed to provide users with the option to opt out of their data being used for commercial purposes, making it the default option and violating their right to choose how their data is processed.