Italy opens competition probe into Apple's app store policies

STORY: Italy opens competition probe into Apple's app store policies DATELINE: May 13, 2023 LENGTH: 00:01:12 LOCATION: Rome CATEGORY: ECONOMY SHOTLIST: 1. various of an Apple store STORYLINE: Italy's antitrust regulator on Thursday opened a new investigation to assess whether the United States-based high-tech giant Apple abused its dominant position in the smartphone app market. The move is the latest in a series of competition-related probes into the company by the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM). Now, the AGCM alleges that Apple's rules for third-party app developers are more restrictive than those for its own smartphone apps on the iOS platform, especially when it comes to privacy guidelines. The authority also alleges that Apple provides outside developers with lower-quality analytical data, making it more difficult for those companies to effectively advertise their products. "The presumed discriminatory conduct carried out by Apple can cause a drop in advertising proceeds for third-party dev