Meta announced today, Monday 15, that it will temporarily close its Twitter competitor, Threads, in Turkey from April 29 in response to an interim injunction imposed by the Turkish competition authority last month.
This decision comes after investigations found that Meta was combining user data between Threads and Instagram without providing users the choice to opt-in, leading to allegations of abuse of dominant market position.
This regulatory battle is not the first for Meta in the European region.
In 2021, Meta faced a $267 million fine for WhatsApp GDPR breaches in the EU and was compelled to sell Giphy to Shutterstock for $53 million due to antitrust concerns.
In 2022, Turkey fined Meta $18.6 million for combining user data across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
In January this year, the Turkish competition authority threatened Meta with an additional $160,000 daily fine for non-compliance.
The lack of transparency in Meta’s data-sharing practices has been a point of contention, with regulators arguing that notification messages to users were insufficient.
Threads, launched by Instagram, has garnered over 130 million users but has faced criticism for requiring users to create an Instagram account to access the platform.
Meta’s initial response to users wanting to delete Threads profiles was to delete their entire Instagram account, although a separate mechanism was later introduced.
Meta expressed disagreement with the interim order, stating compliance with Turkish legal requirements and intending to appeal. However, pending legal resolutions, Threads will be temporarily shut down in Turkey.
Users will receive notifications about the closure and can choose to delete or deactivate their profiles, with the option to reactivate them if Threads becomes available again in the country.
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