Competition Board Imposes 1.2 Billion Lira Fine on META
The Competition Board has recently concluded two investigations regarding META, an American company, and has imposed a hefty fine of 1 billion 234 million Turkish liras.
The first investigation was launched due to concerns over WhatsApp users’ contact data being shared with other META companies. It was revealed that META’s practices hindered the activities of its competitors in the social networking services and online display advertising markets by combining data collected from Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. This was seen as creating a barrier to market entry, leading to an administrative fine of 346 million TL for META.
Additionally, the Board found that META had not complied with the solution suggestions put forth to address its obligations, resulting in a fine of 4 million 796 thousand 153 liras for each day of non-compliance. A total of approximately 552 million lira was imposed for a period of 115 days.
Another investigation was initiated regarding META’s “Threads” application, which was found to violate competition rules. As a result, META was fined 335 million 730 thousand liras.
Moving forward, users will have the option to combine data between Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp services with their consent. These recent developments highlight the Competition Board’s efforts to ensure fair competition practices within the market.
