Türkiye's competition regulator said Thursday it had decided to impose an administrative fine of around TL 355.1 million (nearly $8.9 million) on search giant Google for failing to comply with regulatory obligations.
In a statement, the Turkish Competition Authority (RK) said Google was found to have implemented certain designs that violated regulations during the compliance process of a previous investigation, leading to the fine.
The fine stems from a case investigating competition in the local search services related to accommodation prices.
In a statement on Thursday, the competition body recalled it had determined that Google held a dominant position in the general search services market, through a decision from April 2021.
Moreover, it said it "determined that Google violated Article 6 of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition by providing its own local search (Local Unit) and accommodation price comparison (GHA) services with a position and display advantage over its competitors on the general search results page, and by preventing competing local search sites from entering the Local Unit, thereby obstructing the activities of competitors and distorting competition in the local search services and accommodation price comparison services markets."
It added that Google was then fined nearly TL 296.1 million.
Furthermore, it suggested that the board also imposed certain obligations on Google to remedy the violation and ensure effective competition in the market.
"In this context, Google should not position competing local search services and accommodation price comparison services on its general search results page at a disadvantage compared to Google's own services," the statement read.
The RK said that the company submitted various compliance proposals, including new designs to address the concerns raised by the board in the local search services market.
However, it added that as the review and evaluation of the compliance process continues, it was determined that Google had implemented new designs labeled as "paid sponsored advertising," called "Business Ads," which it said had the same characteristics and functions as the local search designs in question.
In line with this, it was imposed with an administrative fine of a total of TL 355.14 million, corresponding to five ten-thousandths of its gross income for the year 2024, the authority said.
