Targeted advertising: Apple escapes precautionary measures in France

The French Competition Authority announced on Wednesday refusing to impose provisional measures requested by the advertising industry against an update made by Apple on its smartphones.

"The Authority does not pronounce precautionary measures against Apple but continues the investigation of the file on the merits" on this update, which requires the consent of the user for the use by third parties of the advertising identification number ( IDFA) from her smartphone, she said in a statement.

Investigations continue

The Authority's investigation services had nevertheless concluded that it was necessary to impose protective measures, in particular in the face of the risk that Apple would eventually benefit from a transfer of the free and advertising model of applications to a paid model.

But the college of the competition police decided that the argument was not sufficiently substantiated and that the device did not necessarily constitute in the state an "anti-competitive practice".

"Companies are free to set the rules at home, this room for maneuver also exists for the dominant players and the structuring platforms", declared the president of the Authority Isabelle da Silva during a press conference.

"However, companies are subject to vigilance in the way they set their rules, we will be very vigilant about the conditions of their implementation so as not to be unfair," she added.

The Authority thus intends to continue its investigations on the merits to verify that Apple does not apply to itself rules more advantageous than those imposed on third-party developers.