The self-censorship effect of the advertiser

The news value of an attempt to grant a company a multi-billion lira discount on its license fee by amending the E-Commerce Law is indisputable. Especially since the Karar newspaper had already reported days ago, with a byline by İbrahim Kahveci, that this change was being made for Trendyol, headlining it as "Take from the citizen, give to the Chinese."

Despite this, the media showed little interest in the discussions of the amendment at the TBMM (Grand National Assembly of Turkey) Industry and Trade Commission; those who did follow it did not write the name of the company that would be provided with billions of liras in privileges in their reports.

Hürriyet's report titled "Discount on e-export license fee" and Sözcü's report titled "33 billion for retirees, 80 billion for a single company" did not contain the company name.

In fact, in the Sözcü report, it was written that CHP MP Murat Emir said in the commission, "He argued that an 80 billion lira license fee for a firm operating in the e-commerce sector would be erased." However, according to the commission minutes, Emir had explicitly stated the name of the firm as follows:

"A similar regulation was discussed in our Parliament in 2022. E-commerce firms were being taxed with a certain amount of license fees. But when the time for payment came, that is, in 2024, we were faced with a brand new law.

At that time, the relevant firms, the Trendyol company, of which a Chinese firm is the majority shareholder, had conducted significant lobbying both in Parliament and outside of it, and this lobbying was reflected in the press. Now we see that lobbying is being done again and that some powerful people have brought this proposal before us."

"THE COMPANY IS BEING PROTECTED"

During the discussions in the commission, the name of Trendyol was mentioned so clearly and so often that,

CHP MP Şeref Arpacı also said, "These people will do anything to become the sole ruler of the market in Turkey." He then said that this company was being protected by the new regulation on annual license payments.

Presumably offended by these words, the commission chairman Mustafa Varank, who took the floor, said, "Since we are naming company names, I might be the most open one among you on this issue." Varank said he went to the opening of Trendyol's office in Germany. Immediately after, he added that he had made deliveries for Getir at the beginning of the year, performed the opening of Amazon in Istanbul, and that he viewed all companies equally.

At the end of the hours-long debate in the commission, the AKP submitted a motion for the practice of providing a discount at a rate of 4 times the export and investment amounts made by companies that year while calculating the annual license fee to also be applied to companies holding more than 20 percent of the market. Thus, the export and investment amounts made by Trendyol, which is estimated to hold 20 percent of the market as of today, will not be excluded when calculating its annual license fee. In this way, Trendyol seems to have been taken out of the scope, but there are still unclear points; the opposition is worried that Trendyol could benefit from the annual license incentive through some new commercial games.

AKP'S MANEUVER WAS NOT QUESTIONED

What is remarkable from a journalistic perspective is that the name of Trendyol and the accounts of CHP MPs regarding Trendyol's lobbying activities did not appear in the media—except for Sözcü. Why the AKP introduced exemptions to the annual license fee practice it had introduced itself two years ago and why it tried to postpone it were also not questioned in the media.

For some reason, the pro-government media did not mention this regulation at all at the beginning and ignored it. Türkiye and Yeni Şafak were content with reporting "Turkish goods decision in e-commerce" and "E-commerce protection for SMEs against the Chinese state" after the discussions in the commission.

What is important from a journalistic perspective is that, even though the lobbying and discussions from two years ago are still in memory, the media can ignore the move to grant Trendyol billions of liras in privileges. There can be only one reason for this; that is advertising power.

Just last week, Trendyol had again placed advertisements disguised as news in many newspapers and news sites. When that happens, censorship and self-censorship come into play automatically.

Ultimately, our media is also in the hands of bosses. For them, corporate interests are more valuable than the public interest...