Apple under investigation by Italian antitrust regulator over alleged abuse of app market dominance

The Italian antitrust agency AGCM announced on Thursday that it has launched an investigation into Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) for alleged abuse of its dominant position in the apps market. According to the watchdog, Apple’s more restrictive privacy policy, which it applies to third-party app developers but not itself, is disadvantageous to external developers.

Moreover, the agency claims that external app developers have access to lower quality data than Apple’s internal apps. The AGCM also accused Apple of discriminating against third-party app developers, resulting in a decline in advertising revenue for those parties. The watchdog has the power to impose fines of up to 10% of annual turnover under European Union competition law.

Apple and other technology giants have faced ongoing scrutiny from European regulators, with the European Commission recently seeking more information on Apple’s mobile payment system as part of an ongoing antitrust case.