The Turkish competition authority said Thursday that it decided to fine Google regarding its failure to meet the obligations imposed in line with the local search services decision taken in 2021.
The authority said it would fine the company daily five ten-thousandths of its 2023 revenues until it complies with the competition board's decisions, starting from April 15.
The board said the fine was imposed as previously implemented measures by Google to address the competition authority's concerns over the local search services failed to include hotel inquiries.
According to the announcement on the Competition Authority's (RK) website, in line with the investigation carried out in 2021, it was determined that Google provided its local search (Local Unit) and accommodation price comparison (Google Hotel Ads-GHA) services with an advantage over its competitors in terms of location and display on the general search results page.
In this context, it was concluded that Google violated the relevant article of the Law on the Protection of Competition by preventing rival local search sites from entering the Local Unit, making it difficult for its competitors to operate and causing competition in the accommodation price comparison services markets to deteriorate, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.
While the board imposed an administrative fine of TL 296.08 million ($9.18 million) on the company during this period, it imposed certain obligations to eliminate the violation and establish effective competition in the market.
Under these obligations, Google was required to ensure that competing local search and competing accommodation price comparison services were not disadvantaged by their respective services on the public search results page.
In this process, the company is said to have presented its recommendations for eliminating the concerns expressed in the "local search services" market to the board.
At the board's meeting dated March 21, 2024, it was decided to implement the precautionary recommendations presented by Google and monitor them for a period of three months.
According to the statement, these measures were fully implemented by the company as of April 15, 2024.
However, it was determined that Google did not comply with the obligations needed to be implemented in terms of "local search services" related to hotel queries.
Thus, the board concluded that Google did not fulfill these obligations.
Earlier this month, the RK said it fined Meta Platforms TL 1.2 billion after concluding two separate investigations on data-sharing in its Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads platforms.
The board launched an investigation into Meta in December over a possible violation of competition law by linking its social media platforms Threads and Instagram.
Meta said last month it would temporarily shut down Threads in Türkiye starting from April 29, to comply with the interim order.
