Site icon Turkish Minute

Turkey opens antitrust probe into Google over Play Store payments

Google

This illustration photograph taken on October 30, 2023, in Mulhouse, eastern France, shows figurines next to a screen displaying a logo of Google, a US multinational technology company. (Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP)

Turkey’s Competition Authority has opened an investigation into Google over payment rules in the Play Store, examining whether the company required developers to use Google Play Billing and restricted developers from informing users about alternative payment channels.

The competition authority said the case was opened under Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition.

According to the authority, the probe follows a preliminary review that raised concerns about restrictions on payment services for app developers. It added that the decision to investigate does not in itself mean the law has been or will be found to have been violated.

Bloomberg HT reported that the board’s decision to open the case is dated August 7.

The action comes after recent enforcement against Google in Turkey. In July the authority fined the company about 355 million lira for failing to comply with obligations from an earlier case on local search, and in June it announced a separate probe into Google’s Performance Max advertising product.

Exit mobile version