Meta announced yesterday the closure in Turkey of its new social network, Threads, created to compete with Twitter: a decision that responds to an investigation opened by the Turkish authorities for allegedly violating competition laws in the Eurasian country.
In a statement, Meta announced that the decision will come into effect from 29 April, while assuring that this measure will have no impact on the company’s other social networks and services, including Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook. “We know this will be very disappointing for many people in Turkey who connect with their community on Threads. We are taking steps to minimise this disruption as much as possible,” added the company led by Mark Zuckerberg.
The move comes after Turkey’s Competition Authority (RK) imposed temporal restrictions against Meta last March to prevent data sharing between Instagram and Threads while it completes an investigation against Meta for possible abuse of its dominant market position.
The accounts of both social networks are synchronised and share data, so that users of both platforms can keep their usernames and followers. A report filed by the RK last month argues that this could constitute a violation of Turkey’s competition laws . In the Turkish authorities’ view, given the huge user base, data and resources that Zuckerberg’s company has, “Meta’s practices in the market constitute a barrier to entry” for other competitors, and may cause “irreparable harm”.
In response to these measures, Meta has announced that “we have no choice but to proceed with the temporary suspension of the Threads social network in Turkey”, although they will appeal the decision by the RK as they argue that “we comply with all legal requirements” of Turkish law. To minimise the impact on Threads users in Turkey, Meta said it will allow users to deactivate their Threads profiles before 29 April with the option to reactivate them once the platform is operational again in the country. “If a person chooses to deactivate their profile, that user’s posts and interactions with others will be visible again if Threads returns to Turkey,” the company said.
VOTE
EDITORIAL TEAM
🧿 About us
.
Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
…
📣 Your ADVERTISING on Hispanatolia
.
🤗 HELP US WITH A DONATION:
💗 Paypal
