Turkey: Investigation into Google over competition complaint launched

Turkey’s Competition Board has opened an investigation into Google after concluding its preliminary findings that a complaint about the company’s search results for shopping could merit intervention.

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported on August 3 that its board had decided in its meeting last month to open a probe into four Google companies registered in the US, the EU, and Turkey, namely, Google Reklamcılık ve Pazarlama.

The complaint claimed that Google “abuses its dominant position in the search engine market, making the business of its competitors in online shopping harder.”

The Board’s statement on the issue said:

“The investigation concerning the claims that GOOGLE’s (the economic entity composed of Google LLC, Google International LLC and Google Reklamcılık ve Pazarlama Ltd. Şti.) conduct related to the mobile operating system and the provision of mobile applications and services as well as the agreements between GOOGLE and original equipment producers violated articles 4 and 6 of the Act no. 4054 reached the hearing stage. The hearing will be held on August 28, 2018, at 10:30. In accordance with the ‘Communiqué on Hearings Held before the Competition Board’, complainants and third parties who wish to attend the meeting should apply to the Competition Authority together with a petition including the information and documents which establish their interest in the subject matter of the meeting until the end of the working hours on August 13, 2018.”

Full Content: Ahval News

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