An advisory panel to France’s data protection authority recommends a punishment of 6 million euros against Apple. The organisation, which speaks for the vast majority of French digital entrepreneurs and venture investors, filed a complaint against Apple, alleging that iOS 14 did not meet EU privacy regulations.

France Digitale argued back then that despite Apple asking iPhone owners in iOS 14 if they were ready to let installed mobile apps gather a key identifier used to define campaign ads and send targeted ads, Apple could still run its own targeted ad campaigns without explicitly asking iPhone users for their prior consent.

The organisation, which speaks for the vast majority of France’s digital entrepreneurs and venture investors, filed a complaint against Apple, claiming that the company’s previous operating programme, iOS 14, did not meet EU privacy regulations.

As France Digitale pointed out at the time, default settings in iOS 14 allowed Apple to carry out its own targeted ad campaigns without clearly asking iPhone users for their prior consent, even though iPhone owners were asked whether they were ready to allow installed mobile apps to gather a key identifier used to define campaign ads and send targeted ads.

Apple’s new privacy features, dubbed “App Monitoring Transparency,” allow users to prevent third-party applications from tracking their behaviour across several apps and websites.

Pellegrini said that iOS 14.6, Apple’s previous operating system version, violated ePrivacy regulation standards since it did not adequately request users’ agreement before collecting personal data.

He also said that this kind of advance approval was made possible by updates included in iOS 15, Apple’s latest operating system.

At the hearing, Gary Davis, Apple’s director of privacy, argued against the rapporteur’s findings, claiming that the American company was dedicated to protecting consumers’ privacy.

Since “there was no severity to the violation,” he stated, “the amount of the punishment should be minimised.” He also asked that the amount of any fine be kept confidential.