Do this on social media and you're in trouble! New rules start on August 1

Amendments made to the Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices will begin to be implemented as of August 1, 2026. The new regulation announced by the Ministry of Trade introduces new obligations in many areas such as social media promotions, advertising content produced with artificial intelligence, targeted advertising, discount campaigns, and online consumer reviews.

The main purpose of the regulation was announced as protecting consumers more effectively against deceptive advertisements and unfair commercial practices. In this context, it is aimed to ensure that the nature of advertisements is clearly understood, especially in digital media, to make targeting based on personal data transparent, and to make consumer reviews verifiable.

WHAT DO THE NEW RULES BRING?

In targeted advertisements, advertisers will be required to state the criteria based on which the advertisement is shown to the consumer and how these criteria can be changed in a clear, understandable, and easily accessible manner. Targeted advertising to children using profiling methods based on personal data will be prohibited.

A clearer notification obligation is also being introduced for social media influencers. The advertising nature of posts made in exchange for earnings, free or discounted products and services, or participation in an event will be clearly stated. It will be required to use the terms "advertisement" or "promotion" in these posts.

If digital characters created with artificial intelligence technologies that are difficult to distinguish from real people are used in advertisements, this situation will be clearly notified to the consumer. Advertisements that give the impression that a digital copy of a real person created with artificial intelligence is using or recommending a product or service will be included in the scope of the prohibition.

In discount sale advertisements, the lowest price applied in the last 10 days before the start of the campaign can be taken as the pre-discount price. For perishable products such as fruits and vegetables and for services, the price immediately preceding the discounted price will be taken into account. Campaigns that tie a discount or advantage to a specific condition will also be subject to the rules for discount sale advertisements.

With the regulation amendment, the scope of advertising bans regarding fortune-telling, medium, and astrology services, as well as illegal betting and gambling advertisements, has been expanded; advertisements for illegal games of chance have also been included in the scope of the prohibition.

In advertisements containing environmental claims, general expressions such as "environmentally friendly" cannot be used without providing the necessary explanation. It will be stated which stage of the product or service's life cycle the environmental claim in the advertisement relates to; certificates and approvals will also need to be proven with documents obtained from authorized institutions, universities, or accredited independent organizations.

Changes have also been made to the process regarding consumer complaints and reviews. The time granted to sellers and service providers to exercise their right to explain or respond before consumer complaints are published has been reduced from 72 hours to 48 hours. If no response is provided within this period, the reviews may be published directly.

Consumer reviews obtained from platforms where the purchase transaction cannot be verified will not be published. Reviews made under different headings such as product, service, delivery, and seller will need to be displayed in the same area in a clear and easily accessible manner.

In advertisements for food supplements, expressions that create the impression that these products replace a normal diet will be prohibited. Furthermore, the use of academic titles in a way that misleads or deceives the consumer will be prevented.