Türkiye’s Competition Council fines Meta over $10.4M

Türkiye’s Competition Council has imposed an administrative fine on the US corporation Meta for 335.7 million Turkish liras (more than $10.4 million), Report informs referring to TRT Haber.

After Meta made a decision to terminate the Threads service in Türkiye, the Competition Council lifted the daily fine of 4.8 million liras (about $148,000) imposed in March.

However, the regulator also imposed an administrative fine on the company in the amount of 335.73 million liras.

The daily fine was imposed on Meta in March on charges of abusing its dominant market position. The subject of the investigation was the merger of accounts on the social networks Instagram and Threads. According to the company’s policy, users were required to have an Instagram account to log into the Threads app, in addition, users who want to delete their Threads account are forced to delete their Instagram account as well.

“During our preliminary investigation, it appears that as part of Meta’s unification policy, data collected from Instagram accounts may be transferred to Threads accounts, and data collected through Threads may be used to provide, personalize, and improve other Meta products,” reported the regulator.

The council said this situation would be detrimental to the healthy development of competition in the sector. The company was ordered to pay a daily fine until compliance with Turkish law was ensured.

In response, Meta announced a temporary suspension of the Threads service in Türkiye effective April 29. It was noted that the profiles of Turkish users will be deactivated, but they will be able to download data and delete the profile at any time.