Turkey’s competition board to fine Meta $37.2 million in data-sharing probe

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey’s competition board fined Meta Platforms 1.2 billion lira ($37.20 million) on Wednesday after concluding two separate investigations on data-sharing in its Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads platforms.

The board launched an investigation into Meta in December over a possible violation of competition law by linking its social media platforms Threads and Instagram. The board in March imposed an interim measure on Meta meant to hinder data sharing between those two platforms.

Meta said last month it would temporarily shut down Threads in Turkey to comply with the interim order.

The board said on Wednesday it imposed a fine of 898 million lira for the compliance process and the investigations launched into Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, as well as an additional 336 million lira fine for a separate investigation into Threads.

Users will be able to merge personal data between Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp with their own consent and will be notified about data usage, according to the board decision. Users will be able to change their settings later, if needed, using an “accounts centre” on the platforms, it said.

In January, the board also fined Meta $160,000 per day for failing to provide sufficient documentation as part of another previous investigation. It had also imposed a daily fine of 4.8 million lira per day in March over a notification message about data-sharing.

Both those penalties ended May 3.

In 2022, the board also decided to fine Meta 346.72 million lira for violating competition law.

($1 = 32.2540 liras)

(Reporting Ebru Tuncay; Writing by Burcu Karakas; Editing by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Michael Erman)