France Digitale, a French organization representing local start-ups and venture capitalists, has filed a complaint with the National Informatics and Civil Liberties Commission (CNIL), accusing Apple of collecting user data without their consent to continue serving personalized ads. The essence of the accusations is that Apple applications do not need user permission to collect data, while developers of other products do need such permission.

The complaint was filed shortly before the new App Store rules came into effect, requiring app developers to obtain explicit permission from users to collect the data required for targeted advertising. The applicant notes that in the branded applications of the American company App Store, Apple News and Stocks, the personalized advertising function is activated by default, while other developers need to obtain user permission for this. France Digitale believes that “Users are not sufficiently informed about the methods of collecting and processing their personal data”.   

It is worth noting that Apple has already reacted to the accusations from France Digitale, calling them “Knowingly false”. “The complaint contains deliberately false statements, and they will be considered as they are. This is an unsuccessful attempt on the part of those who track users to distract from their own actions and to mislead regulators and policymakers. Transparency and control for users are fundamental to our privacy philosophy, which is why we’ve made tracking in apps more transparent and apply this policy equally to all developers, including Apple. “Apple said in a statement.

The source notes that the French supervisory authority should take a decision on the complaint as soon as possible. If the regulator takes the side of the blame, then Apple may have problems with the introduction of new rules for collecting user data in France.