In the meeting of the Competition Board dated 23.11.2023, the decision numbered 23-54/1031-M was taken that an investigation shall be opened about Meta Platforms, Inc. (Meta) upon the claim that Meta violated article 6 of the Act no 4054 by linking its application Threads and Instagram and combining certain data between Threads and Instagram.

It was understood from the examination of Meta’s data combining policies that the data collected from Instagram accounts could be transferred to Threads account and the data collected via Threads could be used to provide, personalize and improve other META products; measure and analyze the performance of Meta products and to provide other corporate services (including advertisements). On the other hand, Meta’s conduct of continuing to combine the user data obtained from Instagram and Threads despite the obligations imposed in the Board decision dated 20.10.2022 and numbered 22-48/706-299 was considered a serious finding that there was an infringement of the Act. 

Depending on this consideration, in the meeting of the Board dated 08.02.2024, the interim measure decision numbered 24-07/125-50 was taken according to article 9(4) of the Act no 4054 to hinder Meta from combining the data obtained through Threads with the data obtained from Instagram in order to prevent irreparable damages until the final decision was taken.

The remedies offered by Meta afterwards were not accepted by the Board and Meta was imposed 335 million TL administrative fines because of not complying with the obligations.  Instead of offering a new remedy to the Authority in order to resolve the concerns, Meta announced to its users via Threads that it would shut down Threads in Türkiye as of April 29, 2024.

However, the commitment procedure related to the investigation continued and Meta submitted a commitment text to the Authority on 30.10.2024 to eliminate the concerns about linking and data combination, which were the subject of the investigation.

In the commitment text submitted by Meta, it is stated that starting from the date when Threads becomes available in Türkiye again, both the users whose accounts are suspended and the new users will be able to use Threads by creating only a Threads profile without the requirement of an Instagram account and unless the users choose to combine their accounts, the data collected through Threads will not be combined with Instagram.  The Board accepted the commitments submitted by Meta and took the decision numbered 24-45/1053-450 that the commitments shall be rendered binding and the investigation shall be terminated.