Meta Platforms has been fined $37.2 million by the Turkish competition watchdog in the culmination of two separate investigations into the company’s data-sharing practices across its social media platforms, according to a report by Reuters.
The penalty was announced on Wednesday after the regulator wrapped up its probe, which was launched against Meta in December 2023. The investigation focused on Meta’s potential violation of Turkey’s competition laws by linking its X (formerly Twitter) rival app Threads to Instagram, and data-sharing among Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
In March, the competition watchdog blocked Meta from sharing data between Instagram and Threads. Threads, launched by Meta in July last year, was primarily targeted at poaching advertisers from X, then known as Twitter. X has been struggling in terms of revenue generation since Tesla CEO Elon Musk acquired it in October 2022. His erratic decisions and sweeping changes across the platform have driven away a number of its major advertising partners.
In Turkey, however, Meta’s linking of Instagram and Threads raised concerns regarding possible violations of competition rules and Meta’s attempts at gaining a dominant position in the market. Consequently, the authorities ordered the sharing of data be ceased between Instagram and Threads. Meta announced that it would stop operating in Turkey temporarily in compliance with the interim order, saying the company had no other choice.
The regulator stated that users will have the option to consent to the synchronisation of their data between Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp and that they will be notified about how their data will be used. An “accounts centre” on Meta platforms will also provide users with the ability to change their data settings later, if required.
