Apple said after the announcement it was “disappointed with this decision” and would appeal (Image: Reuters)

Apple has been fined 8 million euros ($8.49 million) in France for lack of user consent.

On Wednesday, the French data protection authority CNIL imposed the fine in connection with personalized advertisements in the App Store of the iPhone manufacturer.

“The ad targeting settings available through the iPhone’s ‘Settings’ icon are pre-authenticated by default,” the CNIL said in a statement, although this was not strictly necessary for the device to function.

It added that the case, which dates back to 2021, involved an old version of the phone’s iOS operating system software.

The lobby group that brought the case argued that with iOS 14, Apple failed to make it clear enough to iPhone users to ask for their prior consent to allow installed mobile apps to collect a key ID that used for targeted advertising.

Apple has been fined 8 million euros ($8.49 million) in France for lack of user consent (Photo: Apple)

Following the announcement, Apple said it was “disappointed with this decision” and would appeal.

The decision comes as a blow to the iPhone maker, which prides itself on privacy as a selling point for its devices.

Last year, developers accused the company of tracking every tap on the App Store.

They further claimed that the data was shared with Apple even when users turned off the option to share analytics and personalized recommendations.