Apple is facing a fresh lawsuit from the UK on behalf of app developers that claims the tech giant’s app tracking rules is disenfranchising third parties.

The case centres around Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature which was launched in 2021, allowing users to opt in or out of allowing apps permission to track their activity across other apps and websites.

The lawsuit claims that the feature puts stricter rules on third-party app developers compared to how Apple treats its own services, giving its own advertising services a market advantage.

Ann Pope, a former senior Competition and Markets Authority official, said that the policy caused “very significant harm to businesses that depend on Apple as a gatekeeper.”

She said that the lawsuit is “important to protect ‌the ⁠rights of British businesses that depend on Apple, to ensure that the rules that Apple applies are fair, and to compensate the losses that British companies have suffered.”

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This is not the first time the App Tracking Transparency feature has come under scrutiny – a German court saw Apple agree to change some of its rules on how app developers can target advertisements with personal data after it was accused of abusing its market power.

Apple still contends that the feature does ensure “important privacy protections.”