Introduction
Turkey facebook whatsApp – On October 26, Turkey’s competition watchdog penalized Meta $18.5 million for violating the country’s competition laws. The 346.72 million lira sentence announced by Turkey’s antitrust regulator won’t have Meta trembling.
What is Meta?
We use the term meta to denote content or discussions that are about the platform or community itself. For instance, a meta post on a social media platform may be a conversation about the policies and standards of the platform or about how other users behave.
We use the term meta in this context to distinguish between self-referential content and content concentrated. On the platform’s original goal. Instead of just using the platform or community to share material or connect with others. The phrase is often used to refer to the process of thinking about or reflecting on them.
Turkey facebook whatsApp In some circumstances, “meta” content on social media can be utilized to support the development of a feeling of shared identity. It also includes community among users, as well as encouraging appropriate conduct and constructive online interactions. It can also be used to engage in discussions and conflicts. Critique or complaints about specific features of the platform or community also comes under it.
About Turkish Competition Authority
The Turkish Competition Authority is an independent regulatory organization in Turkey. It is in charge of fostering fair competition and defending consumers. The Turkish Competition Authority was started in 1994 as a division of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Turkey. It became a separate entity in 1997.
The TCA’s primary duties involve looking into and dealing with anti-competitive behavior such as price-fixing, market manipulation, and misuse of a dominating market position. In order to prevent severe decreases in competition, the Authority also examines mergers and acquisitions.
The TCA has the authority to fine corporations that break competition rules, require divestitures, and impose other sanctions as part of its tasks. The Authority also seeks to enhance public understanding of the value of competition and of competition law and policy.
A board of directors for the TCA is made up of seven people chosen by the president of the Republic of Turkey. The board members are appointed for a six-year term and are not eligible for reappointment.
Turkey Fined Meta $18M For Breach of Combining the Data Of Users of Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp:
The 346.72 million lira sentence announced by Turkey’s antitrust regulator won’t have Meta trembling. The roughly $18.6 million fine is insignificant in comparison to other recent sting operations by European officials. Just over a year ago, the European Union fined WhatsApp $267 million for transparency violations of the bloc’s data protection framework.
A year ago, the U.K.’s competition authority fined Meta $70 million after finding that Meta had not complied with information requests during an investigation into its acquisition of Giphy. It then received a CMA order from the UK to reverse that transaction as well, so the entire miserable affair is going to cost it much more money.
Numerous additional data protection complaints are still looming over its head. Such as the one focusing on its EU-U.S. data flows, which may be ordered to cease in the upcoming months effectively ending its service in Europe. This is assuming a replacement for the long-gone Privacy Shield framework cannot be hastily put in place.
However, the main thrust of the Turkish fine—is that Meta has a dominant position in social media. It sought to obstruct competitors by combining data from various services it runs. It is what will most likely send a shiver up the spine of the social networking giant. This is because the social networking giant’s business relies on user profiling. And that depends on its capacity to collect user information and construct comprehensive ad profiles.
Thus, any governmental obstacles that hinder its capacity to undertake unrestricted Internet user surveillance pose an existential danger to its fundamental microtargeting ad strategy. The German competition regulator has had a similar issue for years, so the Turkish action is noteworthy. Back in March 2016, it began looking into Facebook’s super profiling.
In Conclusion
Later, February 2019 order confirmed an abuse finding that the company’s invasion of user privacy amounted to “exploitative abuse” and a violation of its dominating position in social networking. Therefore, Facebook was instructed by the German FCO to stop merging user data from several products. However, Meta filed an appeal, and a legal dispute over the original German data separation decision is still pending.
The Turkish competition authority explained its decision to impose an administrative fine in a decision published. That was followed by the conclusion of an investigation. It stated that combining the data collected by those services, “causes the deterioration of competition. By making it difficult for competitors with personal social networking services to operate in online display advertising markets. And creating barriers to entry to the market.
The probe by the government began last year after a contentious modification to WhatsApp’s terms of service sparked a significant global uproar about privacy. Additionally, customer confusion caused by its T&Cs is still an issue for European consumer protection regulators. Therefore, additional enforcement efforts may be forthcoming in that area as well. The Turkish competition authority unanimously determined that Meta has a monopoly on the social media market. That its actions constituted a violation of national competition law.
The IT giant got a deadline of one month to notify the authority. It is one of the steps it would take to do that. A maximum of six months for implementing the measures, once accepted, in order to stop the violation and establish effective competition in the market. Additionally, throughout a five-year period, Meta must report to the regulator on the actions it is taking.
