Turkey’s Competition Authority stopped data sharing between Instagram and Threads
On Monday, Turkey’s Competition Authority implemented a temporary measure against Meta. This measure prevents data sharing between the Instagram and Threads platforms until they complete their investigation into the company’s potential abuse of its strong market position in Turkey.
According to reports from December 2023, the authority began an investigation into Meta, examining the social networks Threads and Instagram for potential violations of competition law. It is worth noting that Instagram and Threads are actually subsidiaries of Meta.
The authority stated that this temporary measure will remain in effect until a final decision is made. Turkey’s Competition Authority believes that the data obtained and integrated through these two apps could violate competition law and cause irreparable harm in the market.
Separately, Turkish authorities have fined Meta 48 million lira (148,000 dollars) daily as part of a separate investigation into a notification the company sends to users regarding data sharing.
It is said that the data sharing notification between Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp services does not provide sufficient information to users and lacks transparency. This notification is designed to guide users to consent to data sharing, which does not alleviate anti-competitive concerns from the perspective of Turkish authorities.