Türkiye slaps Meta with a multimillion-dollar fine — RT World News
Facebook’s parent company unfairly dominates its market, Turkey’s competition authority says
Türkiye’s competition watchdog has fined Facebook’s parent company Meta $18.63 million. He found that merging user data from Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram gave Meta an unfair advantage in advertising.
The fine was decided last week and announced in a press release on Wednesday. By combining data collected from all of its subsidiaries, the statement explains, Meta « dominates » the online advertising market and « creates barriers to entry » for its competitors.
An investigation was launched in 2021 after WhatsApp asked users to allow Facebook to collect their data. Even before this global change in data collection rolled out, Facebook was sued by the US Federal Trade Commission over its acquisition of WhatsApp and investigated by the EU and UK. United for using its vast trove of data to give Facebook its own market and an unfair market advantage. competition.
The Turkish fine of 346.72 million lira, or $18.63 million, was decided based on Meta’s revenue in 2021. The watchdog also ordered Meta to restore competition in its markets and to prepare annual reports on what it will do to ensure its competitiveness over the next five years.
Meta has 60 days to appeal the fine, and a spokesperson for the company told Reuters on Wednesday that it « consider all options. »
Meta posted a profit of $46.7 billion in 2021 and as such can easily sustain a fine of $18.63 million. However, the company reported its first-ever quarterly revenue drop – a 1% drop – in July, along with a 36% drop in profits from a year earlier. With much of his wealth tied to Meta stocks, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has lost $71 billion of his personal fortune so far this year.
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