Apple Hit With £2 Billion UK Lawsuit Over App‑Tracking Rules

Overview

• A collective claim filed Thursday at London's Competition Appeal Tribunal seeks about £2 billion in damages on behalf of app developers who say they were harmed by Apple's rules.
• Plaintiffs say App Tracking Transparency imposed tougher limits on third‑party apps than on Apple's own services, which they argue reduced access to the cross‑app identifiers used for targeted advertising and cut ad revenue.
• Apple says the feature was built to give users control over tracking and asserts it is subject to the same requirements as all developers.
• The legal action follows months of regulatory scrutiny in Europe, including an August 2026 agreement in Germany to change how developers can use personal data for targeted ads.
• If the claim succeeds it could award compensation to affected UK firms and prompt broader changes to how mobile platforms set privacy rules and manage their advertising ecosystems.