Turkish Competition Board (the “Board”) concluded the investigation about Meta Platforms Inc. (previous title Facebook Inc.), Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (previous title Facebook Ireland Limited), WhatsApp LLC and Madoka Turkey Bilişim Hizmetleri Ltd. Şti. and the Board determined that Meta Platforms Inc. has violated article 6 of the Act Nr. 4054 and fined Meta 346.717.193,40 Turkish Liras for abusing its dominant position in the social media and online advertising markets by collecting personal data through its own “Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp” services, thereby obstructing the activities of its competitors and created barriers to entry into the market.

You may find the announcement through the link below (in Turkish).

Meta Decision of Turkish Competition Board

The Regulation Amending Regulation on Fines to Apply in Cases of Agreements, Concerted Practices and Decisions Limiting Competition, and Abuse of Dominant Position entered into force through publication in the Official Gazette dated 15.06.2022 and numbered 31867. With the amendment, the definition and content of the term that is called “annual gross revenue” which is a determinative for the Turkish Competition Board (the “Board”) about the fines that are given by the Board to the undertakings (enterprise) has expanded. The previous regulation identified the “annual gross revenue” as “the net sales in the uniform account plan, or if this cannot be calculated, the revenue closest to the net sales, which is to be determined by the Board”. The new regulation includes not only the definition in the previous regulation, but also the real operating incomes of the undertakings that are accounted under the account items which are not taken account in the calculation of the net sales, such as ordinary incomes or profits from their other activities.