Apple is facing a £2 billion ($2.7 billion) lawsuit in the UK over its App Tracking Transparency system, with app developers accusing the iPhone maker of abusing its market power and unfairly restricting third-party businesses.
The claim was filed on Thursday, August 3, at London’s Competition Appeal Tribunal and is being led by Ann Pope, a former senior official at Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority. It follows years of regulatory scrutiny of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature, which was introduced in 2021.
Lawyers behind the lawsuit argue that Apple imposes stricter requirements on third-party app developers than on its own services, giving the company’s advertising ecosystem a competitive advantage.
Pope said the lawsuit was aimed at protecting businesses that depend on Apple’s platform and ensuring that the rules applied to developers are fair.
“Privacy is an important protection for consumers, but it should be applied fairly and in a way that ensures businesses of all sizes can compete on a level playing field. It cannot become a reason for digital platforms to play by one set of rules while forcing app developers to play by another,” she said.
“This action is important to protect the rights of British businesses that depend on Apple, to ensure that the rules that Apple applies are fair, and to compensate the losses that British companies have suffered,” Pope added in a statement.
Apple, meanwhile, says App Tracking Transparency was designed to give users control over whether apps can track their activity across other companies’ apps and websites. The company said its own services are “bound by the exact same requirements as all developers.”
The case comes after years of regulatory scrutiny of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency system, which was introduced in 2021. The rules have faced challenges in several European countries over their impact on app developers and competition.
In March 2025, France’s competition authority fined Apple €150 million over its implementation of the system. In December 2025, Italy’s competition authority fined Apple €98.6 million, finding that the company had abused its dominant position through the ATT policy. More recently, in August 2026, Apple agreed to change its rules in Germany following action by the country’s competition authority over the use of personal data for targeted advertising.
