The American giant Meta will suspend its social network Threads in Turkey after a decision by the Turkish Competition Authority aimed at preventing the sharing of data with its other platform Instagram, it announced on Monday.
“We will temporarily suspend Threads in Turkey from April 29 in order to comply with a provisional order from the Turkish Competition Authority,” Facebook's parent company said in a blog post. “We do not agree with the interim order. We believe that we comply with all Turkish legal requirements and we will appeal,” adds Meta.
In March, the Turkish Competition Authority deemed the sharing of data between Threads and the social network Instagram, with which Threads is associated, “damaging”. Given its vast user base, its reservoir of data and its financial resources, “Meta’s practices in the market constitute a barrier to entry” for potential competitors, the Authority stressed.
130 million users worldwide
Threads, created by Meta to compete with X (formerly Twitter), has been active in Turkey since its launch in July 2023.
Meta launched its social network in the European Union five months after the rest of the world, in a version adapted to comply with European laws. The American giant wanted to ensure not to contravene the European regulation on digital markets (DMA), which toughens anti-competitive rules, as well as the regulation on personal data (GDPR).
Threads has more than 130 million monthly active users worldwide, Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg said in early February.