Apple is staring down a collective lawsuit in London that seeks as much as £2 billion (about $2.7 billion) in damages. It was filed on September 3 at the London Competition Appeal Tribunal. Ann Pope, a former senior official at the UK Competition and Markets Authority, brought the case on behalf of app developers.
Core Allegation: Double Standards in ATT
At the heart of the case is a blunt accusation: Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature, rolled out in 2021, puts tighter limits on third-party developers than it does on Apple’s own services. The claim says that gives Apple’s advertising ecosystem an unfair competitive edge. As Ann Pope put it, Apple’s policies "caused very significant damage to companies that rely on Apple as a gatekeeper."
ATT has drawn the attention of regulators around the world since it launched. Apple says the feature lets users decide whether apps can track their activity across other companies and websites. But the plaintiffs say the rules cut two ways. Third-party apps, they argue, get hit with strict authorization pop-ups for tracking, while Apple’s own personalized advertising and services dodge equivalent restrictions.
First Major Private Antitrust Suit in the UK
The suit adds to the legal pressure Apple is already facing over ATT, after scrutiny from regulators in the EU, the US, and elsewhere. And it marks the first big private antitrust action in the UK market aimed at Apple’s app ecosystem rules. Apple has not publicly commented on the case so far.