Turkiye: Opened consultation on Competition Authority online advertising sector inquiry preliminary report

On 7 April 2023, the Turkish Competition Authority (Rekabet Kurumu) issued a preliminary report following its online advertising sector inquiry and opened a public consultation until 7 July 2023. In its inquiry, the Competition Authority analysed the state of competition in the digital display advertising market, the Google and Meta business practices and barriers to entering the market. In its preliminary report, the Competition Authority stated that Google and Meta engaged in tying, self-preferencing, and data merging practices, affecting the level of competition in the market. Furthermore, the Competition Authority noted the lack of transparency in the supply of advertising space and specified that it identified an information asymmetry problem in the industry related to the pricing and measurement of advertisements. The Competition Authority also noted that the current features of the market make publishers dependent on advertising technology providers for inventory, buying and selling.