Turkish Competition Authority Launches Investigation Against Google

With the decision of the Competition Board numbered 23-03/27-M; with the opinion that the findings obtained in the preliminary investigation carried out to determine whether the Competition Board has violated Article 6 of the Law No. 4054 [1]by abusing its dominant position in the general search services market are serious and sufficient, an investigation has been initiated against the following companies forming economic integrity.

The companies concerned are:

Alphabet Inc,
Google LLC,
Google International LLC,
Google Ireland Limited
Google Advertising and Marketing Ltd.

The full text of the announcement dated February 2, 2023, is available here.

Kind regards,

Zumbul Attorneys at Law

info@zumbul.av.tr

[1] Abuse of Dominant Position

Article 6- It shall be unlawful and prohibited for one or more undertakings to abuse their dominant position in a market for goods or services in the whole or a part of the country, either alone or through agreements or concerted practices with others.

The cases of abuse are especially the following:

a) Actions aimed at directly or indirectly preventing another undertaking from entering the field of commercial activity or making it difficult for competitors to operate in the market,

b) Discriminating directly or indirectly by offering different terms for the same and equal rights, obligations, and performances to equally situated buyers,

c) Restrictions on the conditions of purchase and sale in case of resale, such as requiring the purchase of one good or service together with another good or service, or requiring a good or service demanded by buyers in the case of intermediary undertakings to be displayed by the buyer of another good or service, or restricting the resale of a purchased good below a certain price,

d) Acts aimed at distorting the conditions of competition in another goods or services market by taking advantage of the financial, technological, and commercial advantages created by dominance in a particular market,

e) Restriction of production, marketing, or technical development to the detriment of the consumer.