Turkey hands Meta $148K daily fine over antitrust violation
Turkey’s competition watchdog also imposed an interim measure to suspend data-sharing between Instagram and Threads.
ANKARA — Turkey’s competition watchdog on Monday ordered Facebook's parent company, Meta, to pay a daily fine of roughly $148,000, citing the company’s violation of the country’s antitrust laws.
Turkey’s Competition Board previously said Meta had violated the country’s antitrust laws by abusing its dominant position in the market by allowing cross-platform data sharing among its companies Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram.
The Turkish watchdog said Monday that it deems compliance measures offered by Meta to address the violations “insufficient” and ordered the company to pay 4.7 million Turkish liras daily until it provides measures that will ensure its compliance with the law.
The watchdog last year had fined the company 346 million liras — or about $11.6 million based on the exchange rate at that time — under the same investigation launched in 2021.
Separately, the Turkish watchdog also announced it was imposing interim measures to suspend cross-platform data sharing between Meta's Instagram and Threads.
The measure would remain in place until a final decision is made on whether Meta violated the country’s antitrust laws.
A Meta spokesperson said earlier Monday that the company was assessing the decision.
