Competition Board initiated an Investigation against Facebook and Whatsapp
The Competition Board (“Board”) has ex officio initiated an investigation on Facebook Inc., Facebook Ireland Ltd., WhatsApp Inc. ve WhatsApp LLC (all together as “Facebook”) with its decision dated 11.01.2021 and numbered 21-02/25-M to determine whether there has been a violation of Article 6 of the Law on Protection of Competition Numbered 4054 (“Law No. 4054”) regarding the obligation to share data imposed on WhatsApp users.
As it is known, WhatsApp users have recently been informed that the terms of use and privacy policy of WhatsApp will be updated, and users have to consent to the sharing of WhatsApp data with Facebook companies, otherwise, as of February 8, 2021, they will not be able to use WhatsApp.
The Board decided to apply interim measures within the framework of Article 9 of the Law No. 4054, due to the possibility of serious and irreparable damages until the final decision will be taken as a result of the investigation and within this scope it resolved that
- Facebook will cease the conditions regarding the use of WhatsApp users' data for other services in Turkey as of February 8, 2021, and
- Facebook shall notify all users who accepted or disagreed with these conditions that new conditions involving data sharing have been ceased.
You may access Turkish version of the full text of the Competition Authority’s announcement here.
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