Competition Board fines Google

The Competition Board has determined that the new designs offered by Google under the name "Business Ads" are in violation of a previously issued decision regarding "local search services." For this reason, an administrative fine of 355 million 143 thousand 671.89 TL was imposed on Google, calculated at a rate of five ten-thousandths of its 2024 gross revenue for each day.

In its statement, the Competition Board emphasized that competition law is essential for ensuring fair competition in markets and protecting consumer welfare. The Board stated that companies failing to comply with their obligations may face administrative fines, noting that the penalty issued to Google is a concrete example of this.

PAST DECISIONS AND NEW DESIGNS

In a decision taken in 2021, it was determined that Google was prioritizing its own services in general search results in a more advantageous way than its competitors, and a fine of approximately 296 million TL was issued as a result. Google was asked to present a new design that would not disadvantage competing services. However, the new designs Google introduced under the name "Business Ads" were re-examined because they possessed the same characteristics and functions as the designs subject to the investigation. A daily fine was applied to Google for as long as these designs remained in use, and the designs have since been withdrawn.

News Source: 12punto