Associations representing German publishers, advertisers and the Branded Goods Industry have formally rejected Apple's December proposal for neutral consent prompts and simplified data permissions. They contend these measures fail to address abuses in the mobile advertising market under the App Tracking Transparency framework.

In December, Apple offered to align consent prompt wording, content and visual design between its own services and third-party apps and simplify the process for obtaining user permission for advertising-related data processing. The revisions aimed to ensure compliance with data protection law while preserving user control over tracking.

Publishers argue that despite these changes, Apple continues to act as the sole gatekeeper of advertising-relevant data, deciding which companies can access user information and how they communicate with end customers. They maintain this dynamic perpetuates market-power imbalances in Apple's favor.

German antitrust rules allow fines of up to 10% of a company's annual turnover for market-power abuses, a threshold that could represent billions of dollars for Apple. The publishers have urged the German competition authority to reject the current proposal, halt the tracking tool and impose the maximum penalty.