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The impact of platform-level privacy policies on users’ privacy concerns: Evidence from Apple App Tracking Transparency via a dynamic difference-in-difference analysis

SangJun Nam & Youngsun Kwon

Telecommunications Policy2026https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2026.103192article
AJG 1
Weight
0.50

What the paper says

Apple App Tracking Transparency (Apple ATT), one of the representative platform-level privacy policies, was introduced in April 2021. Considering that privacy concerns can affect users' privacy behavior as an antecedent, it is meaningful to investigate the impact of Apple ATT on users' privacy concerns to explore the effect of platform-level privacy policies on the digital society as well as their own platform ecosystems. However, there exist mixed views that the Apple ATT can either strengthen or mitigate users' privacy concerns by increasing privacy awareness or trustworthiness. In addition, the frame of the Apple ATT prompt may negatively affect users' perceptions of information privacy. To investigate which effect is stronger than the other, this study implemented a dynamic Difference-in-Difference analysis in a quasi-experimental setting. The result showed that introducing Apple ATT strengthened users' privacy concerns in the short term. It implies that platform-level privacy policies may shape users’ privacy perceptions by increasing privacy concerns. Moreover, this strengthened effect on privacy concerns due to the Apple ATT could be moderated by privacy protection literacy. • Investigate whether platform-level privacy policies alleviate or increase users' privacy concerns. • Introduced platform-level privacy policies can increase users' privacy concerns in the short term. • Low privacy protection literacy users' privacy perceptions may be more affected by the privacy policies.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2026.103192

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{sangjun2026,
  title        = {{The impact of platform-level privacy policies on users’ privacy concerns: Evidence from Apple App Tracking Transparency via a dynamic difference-in-difference analysis}},
  author       = {SangJun Nam & Youngsun Kwon},
  journal      = {Telecommunications Policy},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2026.103192},
}

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.