Turkey's competition board imposes $8.9 million fine to Google
Turkey’s Competition Authority has fined Google for breaching regulatory obligations and violating rules through certain design implementations during the compliance process following a previous antitrust investigation.
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The Turkish Competition Authority has decided to impose an administrative fine of around 355 million lira ($8.87 million) on Google for failing to comply with regulatory obligations.
In a statement, the antitrust body said on July 10 that Google was found to have implemented certain designs that violated regulations during the compliance process of a previous investigation, leading to the fine, according to a Reuters report.
The fine stems from a case investigating competition in the local search services related to accommodation prices.
The competition body also recalled it had determined that Google held a dominant position in the general search services market, through a decision from April 2021. Google was then fined nearly TL 296.1 million.
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."
The body also 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.
