Investigations Launched: 3
Investigations Closed with;
- Settlement: 2
- Commitment: 1
- Regular Procedure: 4
M&A transactions: 17
Google fined for failing to comply with Competition Board’s measures
The Turkish Competition Board fined Google approx. EUR 8.4 million for favouring its own local search and accommodation price comparison results over competitors. The Board also imposed certain measures to facilitate competition.
Although the Board had previously accepted solutions that Google undertook to implement, monitoring by the Turkish Competition Authority revealed that the company had not actioned them with respect to hotel searches. The Board has therefore imposed daily administrative fines, which began on 15th April 2024 and will remain until Google demonstrates compliance, corresponding to 0.05% of Google’s 2023 turnover generated in Turkey.[1]
French high schools fined
Five well-known French schools in Istanbul – Saint-Joseph, Saint Benoit, Notre-Dame de Sion, Saint Michel and Saint Pulchérie – have been fined for fixing enrolment (and other) fees and teacher salaries. The respective fines arising from each breach are EUR 366,827 and EUR 244,551.[2]
META’s daily administrative fine ends
The Turkish Competition Board previously found that META abused its dominant position by utilising user data from Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp to deleteriously affect social network competitors and online advertising markets. After failing to offer solutions that would promote fair competition, META was made subject to daily fines.
According to a recent announcement published on the Turkish Competition Authority’s website, the initial solutions offered by META were rejected for the following reasons:
- Directed consent: Solution offered was designed to direct users to grant consent to data use.
- Lack of transparency: The explanation of data practices was insufficient.
- Unequal options: The opt-out process was more complex than opting in.
- No guarantee of access: Users were not informed they could still use the apps without data merging.
The Turkish Competition Board has now accepted META’s revised solutions and ended the daily fines which amounted to approx. EUR 15.8 million.[3]
Tofaş’s acquisition of Stellantis Turkey under Phase II review
Turkey car manufacturer Tofaş announced, on the Public Disclosure Platform (KAP), the start of Phase II of the review of its acquisition of Stellantis Turkey. The proposed acquisition will include distribution rights to Stellantis brands such as Peugeot, Citroën, Opel, and DS Automobiles.[4]
Turkish Competition Authority aims to increase digital market presence
In a recent interview Mr. Birol Küle, head of the Turkish Competition Authority, highlighted his focus on strengthening regulation of digital markets. He noted that many competition authorities have already implemented such regulation, and that the Turkish Competition Authority is currently analysing structural and competition aspects of these markets.
Amendments to Turkey’s competition act to address digital markets have been debated but not implemented thus far.
Alibaba’s Trendyol self-preference fine
Turkish e-commerce giant Trendyol was slapped with a EUR 1.7 million fine by the Turkish Competition Board for favouring its own private label products over those of other sellers on its platform. The investigation found that Trendyol was not discriminating against individual sellers, but abusing its dominant position through self-preferencing. This included (i) manipulating algorithms to grant Trendyol’s private label products an unfair advantage in search results and promotions and; (ii) using seller data gathered through the platform to benefit Trendyol’s products.
To prevent future self-preferencing, the Competition Board ordered Trendyol to:
- Refrain from any actions that would favour Trendyol’s private label products,
- Completely separate its private label business data from its seller data, including:
- Separating its private label product team.
- Prohibiting data sharing between private label teams and seller data
- Implementing a clear internal policy on data usage.
- Store product rating and brand filtering algorithms for three years to ensure transparency.
[1] The English version of the announcement can be viewed here: https://www.rekabet.gov.tr/en/Guncel/daily-fines-imposed-on-google-for-failin-3ef2c4fd8813ef1193c90050568585c9
[2] The English version of the announcement can be viewed here: https://www.rekabet.gov.tr/en/Guncel/investigation-about-istanbul-saint-josep-0b1db0ca0c0eef1193c90050568585c9
[3] The English version of the announcement can viewed here: https://www.rekabet.gov.tr/en/Guncel/the-solution-proposals-submitted-by-meta-8ca2e7f3450def1193c90050568585c9
[4] The English version of the announcement can be viewed here: KAP
