Turkey Imposes $75 Million Antitrust Fine on Google

Turkey's competition authority has fined Google 2.61 billion lira (75 million dollars) for engaging in anti-competitive practices. The regulatory body accused Google of unfairly favoring its own supply-side platform, which is the technology used to automate the sale of advertising space, to the detriment of its competitors.

The competition board's decision defined Google's abuse of its dominant market position as a violation of competition law, specifically naming Google International LLC, Google LLC, Google Ireland Ltd., and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Inc. as part of the ruling.

Google has been given a six-month period to comply with the law by offering the same favorable terms to third-party supply-side platforms (SSPs) that it provides to its own services. If Google fails to meet these requirements, it will face additional daily monetary penalties as specified by the board. The company has the right to appeal the decision.

This development came after a series of international challenges to Google's business practices. Earlier in the year, a US judge classified Google's search engine as an illegal monopoly, and European regulators requested details from Google regarding its advertising partnership with Meta.

Previously, in June, Google was fined 482 million lira by the Turkish competition authority due to issues related to its hotel search service.