Fine for Facebook from the Competition Authority!

The Competition Authority has announced that an interim injunction and a daily fine of 4.8 million lira have been imposed on META as part of an ongoing investigation.

According to the decision published on the Authority's website, it was determined that META's practice of merging the data of users who create Threads profiles based on their Instagram accounts without offering users an opt-in option would cause irreparable harm until the investigation is concluded.

Within the framework of current findings, it was stated that an interim measure has been decided to prevent data-merging behavior that could result from the data transfer mechanism between Instagram and Threads.

DAILY FINE OF 4.8 MILLION LIRA FOR META

On the other hand, it had previously been determined that META was making it difficult for competitors operating in the social networking services and online display advertising markets by merging data collected from its Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp services, thereby creating barriers to market entry, and certain obligations had been imposed.

In the investigation launched in 2021, it was decided that META abused its dominant position by merging data collected from Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp services, an administrative fine of 346 million 717 thousand 193 TL was imposed on the META economic entity, and obligations were imposed on META to remedy the violation and restore effective competition in the market.

The deadline set for fulfilling the aforementioned obligations expired on December 9, 2023. The proposals ultimately submitted to the Authority by META were not found sufficient. Therefore, with the expiration of the time granted to META, it was decided to impose a daily administrative fine of 4 million 796 thousand 152 TL on META.
The Board requested that META obtain renewed consent from users who had previously consented to the merging of their data between Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp services before the compliance measures were implemented.

It was stated that the consent screen should not direct users directly to consent, should include information that users can still use the application if they refuse, and should provide this option with the same ease to users who do not wish to give consent.

The proposal was not seen as sufficient to address the anti-competitive concerns addressed within the scope of the investigation, due to the fact that it did not contain sufficient information for users and was designed in a way that directed users to consent to data merging.

Upon this, the Board decided to impose an administrative fine of 4 million 796 thousand 152 Turkish Liras per day, based on its 2022 gross revenues, starting from December 12, 2023, until the compliance measure to be proposed by META is officially registered with the Competition Authority.