Apple didn't give itself better dialogs. It never did third-party tracking across across apps or websites so the ATT prompt would never apply to their apps. It also voluntarily showed a dialog explicitly asking you to opt into personalized advertising. Facebook doesn't show anything similar when you use Instagram or the Facebook app, because that would be undoubtedly bad for business.

The German regulator settled because the facts are simply on Apple's side. Apple settled because at the end of the day it's no skin off their back if the EU now wants to weaken privacy protections to benefit ad-tech.

EDIT: You can downvote me all you like, but it's right there on page 1 of the FAQ from the regulator. https://www.bundeskartellamt.de/SharedDocs/Publikation/EN/Pr...

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schubidubiduba an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Instagram does, in fact, have such a dialog in the EU. Because they are legally required to, like everybody else.

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Despegar an hour ago | parent [-]

I don't live in the EU. My comment is based on what they do in the rest of the world.

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gpm 17 minutes ago | parent [-]

What "The German regulator" did is definitely not based on what they do in the rest of the world.

	▲	Despegar 7 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		What Apple and Facebook do in their apps in the rest of the world.

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gpm 14 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Nothing on page 1 of the faq supports any of the assertions in your comment.

	▲	Despegar 4 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		>Apple only gives third-party app publishers access to the IDFA if they have obtained user consent through a dedicated consent prompt that is largely predefined by Apple – the so-called ATT prompt. If the user refuses to give consent in this prompt, the app publisher does not gain access to the IDFA. According to the Bundeskartellamt’s investigation, there are no other technical options available to app publishers that are equally suitable for exchanging data across companies. In contrast, Apple’s own personalised advertising is subject to different conditions. Apple itself does not use the IDFA and cross-company data combination, but draws on user data from its own ecosystem – a wealth of data that is not available, in particular, to the large number of smaller app publishers. This is why Apple is not subject to the requirement of displaying an ATT prompt. Insofar as Apple requests consent to its own processing of user data for advertising purposes, the company uses a different consent prompt – the so-called PA prompt (“Personalized Ads prompt”). The design of the PA prompt differs from that of the ATT prompt for third-party app publishers.