The Italian Competition watchdog Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, said Apple's “absolute dominant position” in app distribution let it “unilaterally impose” the ATT rules on third-party developers.

It says Job’s Mob did it without so much as a polite chat first, and the probe kicked off in May 2023.

AGCM insisted it is not having a pop at the idea of iOS privacy safeguards, because even regulators do like their data not being flung around like confetti. What has gotten its goat is the consent setup being ridiculously heavy for developers and “disproportionate” to ATT’s supposed aims.

The mess is that iPhone and iPad apps in the EU must show users an ATT and a GDPR permission prompt before they can process data for personalised ads. Meanwhile, Job’s Mob apps and services can get the same green light in a single tap.

AGCM said: “In particular, third-party app developers are required to obtain consent for the collection and linking of data for advertising purposes through Apple's ATT prompt. However, such a prompt does not meet privacy legislation requirements, forcing developers to double the consent request for the same purpose.”

The authority added that the double-consent farce hits ad-funded developers hardest and claimed that Apple should have delivered the same privacy outcome with a single “Personalised Advertising” prompt.

In a statement shared with Reuters, Job’s Mob said it will appeal and repeated its pledge “to defend strong privacy protections.”

It trotted out the familiar line that the rules bite everyone equally, including itself, which will surprise anyone who has ever tried to get a straight answer from its settings menus.

Job’s Mob launched ATT in 2021, selling it as a privacy-first way for apps to ask permission before grabbing the device’s ad identifier and tracking users across apps and websites.

That noble framing has already annoyed competition regulators who notice when “privacy” doubles as a handy stick for whacking rivals’ ad revenue.

In March 2025, France’s competition watchdog fined the company €150 million ($162 million) for using ATT to lean on its dominant position in mobile app advertising.

Similar probes are running in Poland and Romania, because once the spotlight hits you, everyone starts peering into the same cupboard.

Earlier this month, Germany’s antitrust authority said it was testing Apple’s proposed tweaks to ATT, including changes to the text and formatting of the consent prompt while keeping “core user benefits.”

The company is reportedly lining up “neutral” consent prompts for its services and third-party apps and simplifying the process so developers can collect permission in a way that keeps data protection lawyers off the ceiling.