Meta was fined about 134 million yuan by Turkey for violating competition law, but the company disagreed.

CTOnews.com, October 26 (Reuters)-the Turkish Competition Authority said on Wednesday local time that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, was fined 347 million lira, or about 134 million yuan, according to Meta's annual revenue in 2021 for violating competition law.

The Turkish Competition Commission said Meta's consolidation of data collected through Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp hampered its competitors operating in social networking services and online advertising markets.

A spokesman for Meta said the company disagreed with the findings and would consider all options to deal with it.

Turkish authorities said the Meta must take action to restore competition in these markets and prepare an annual report on the steps to be taken over the next five years.

In 2021, after WhatsApp asked users to agree to allow Facebook to collect user data such as phone numbers and locations (which has been promoted around the world), major competition regulators responded to WhatsApp and Facebook Inc. An investigation was launched.

CTOnews.com has learned that the social media sector has been the focus of antitrust concerns for Turkey, which passed a law last week that would sentence journalists and social media users to up to three years in prison for spreading materials deemed "false information".

Analysts say social media companies are unlikely to fully comply with the law, which requires them to delete such materials and share user data with the authorities.

"Meta is unhappy with the new local law, threatening to prevent Canadian users from sharing news."