Meta to Halt Threads in Turkey on Competition Watchdog Concerns
(Bloomberg) -- Meta Platforms Inc. said it will shut down its Threads platform in Turkey in two weeks to comply with an order from local authorities concerned about data sharing.
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The Turkish Competition Authority said last month that cross-platform data sharing between Threads and Instagram could violate Turkey’s laws and cause “irreparable damage.”
Meta said it disagreed and would appeal. “There is no impact to Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp or any other Meta services in Turkey, or Threads in other countries,” it said.
Threads will be unavailable from April 29. Meta described it as a temporary suspension.
In March, Turkish authorities separately fined Meta 4.8 million liras ($148,000) daily until the company confirmed compliance measures. Those fines would apply from mid-December.
Meta’s “abused” its position by merging data from Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, and this hampers competitors, the competition authority’s board said.
Meta has faced problems with Threads in the European Union as well. Europeans have been given the option of signing up without linking their Instagram account. The Instagram link was a key point of contention in the EU, where new rules on digital platforms prevent major tech companies from sharing data across different services.
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