Turkey Fines Google $25.5 Million For Abusing Market Dominance
The Turkish regulators announced that a fine of 196.7 million Turkish liras (approximately US$25.6 million) on Google was imposed.
In a statement released Friday, the Competition Authority said Google and its parent company Alphabet Inc had made it difficult for companies to show up in searches if they did not generate advertisement revenue for Google.
The Turkish Competition Authority stated in January last year at it had launched an investigation against Google to assess its search algorithm and precision advertising service algorithm violated Turkey’s fair competition law.
The Competition Authorities said at the time that prior to the investigation, the department received complaints from Google’s competitors, accusing Google of abusing its dominant position and making it difficult for competitors to conduct business.
The Competition Authority also stated that the subjects of the investigation included Google Turkey, Google International, Google, Google Ireland, and its parent company Alphabet Inc.
As early as September 2019, the Turkish Competition Authorities announced that it had decided to fine Google 93 million Turkish Liras due to Google’s mobile software sales in violation of Turkish competition law.
The Turkish Competition Authorities stated at the time that it had received complaints that Google had abused its dominant position in the search engine market, making it more difficult for competitors to conduct business in the field of online shopping, which violated Turkey’s competition law.
