Turkey cracks down on Meta: interim ban on Instagram and Threads data sharing

Meta is not having a good start to the week. Turkey's competition watchdog has implemented a temporary restriction on Meta to block the exchange of data between Instagram and Threads.

The reason is that there is an ongoing investigation into Meta's potential abuse of its dominant market position (via Reuters).

The action follows the watchdog's December opening of an investigation into Meta, Facebook's parent company, for potentially violating competition laws by linking Instagram to its new platform, Threads.

The watchdog said the interim measure would be in force until a final verdict is reached, as data obtained and merged through these two apps could “violate competition law and cause irreparable damage.” on the market.

Separately, Turkish authorities fined Meta 4.8 million lira ($148,000) daily as part of a separate investigation into a notification message the company sends to users about data sharing .
The notification regarding data sharing between the company's Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp services did not provide enough information and was not transparent enough, he said.

The authority also noted that the manner in which the notification prompts users to consent to data sharing does not adequately alleviate concerns about anti-competitive behavior.