BRUSSELS - Apple on Wednesday welcomed a French competition authority decision to reject a request from French online advertising lobbies to suspend its app tracking transparency feature on iPhones.

"We're grateful to the French Competition Authority for recognizing that App Tracking Transparency in iOS 14 is in the best interest of French iOS users," Apple said in a statement.

"ATT will provide a powerful user privacy benefit by requiring developers to ask users' permission before sharing their data with other companies for the purposes of advertising, or with data brokers.

"We firmly believe that users' data belongs to them, and that they should control when that data is shared, and with whom."

  - Reuters