Polish Antitrust Watchdog Probes Apple’s Privacy Policy

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Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has opened a formal investigation into whether Apple is restricting competition in the mobile advertising market through its privacy rules.

The regulator says it is scrutinizing Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework, which was introduced with iOS 14.5 and later versions.

ATT requires apps to request user permission before tracking activity across other apps and websites. While Apple has framed the feature as a major privacy upgrade, regulators in Poland and elsewhere are questioning whether it reshapes the digital advertising landscape in ways that disadvantage third-party developers.

In the announcement, UOKiK said it suspects the policy may curb independent publishers’ ability to gather data for ...