On April 29, the social media app falls down.
As a result of an interim injunction issued by the Turkish Competition Authority (TCA) regarding automatic data-sharing with Instagram, Meta has decided to shut down Threads in Turkey on April 29. The Trade Commission of America (TCA) came to the conclusion that linking Threads and Instagram without the consent of users “will lead to irreparable harms” and that Meta “abused its dominant position” in the sector by engaging in this process. Additionally, the TCA stated that the linkage was established largely for the purpose of enhancing the company’s “market power.”
A decision has been made by Meta to remove the emerging social media app rather than make any modifications to the way in which Instagram and Threads are integrated in the region. According to the corporation, this is only a stopgap solution as it attempts to appeal the injunction; however, there is no particular timeline for when this will take place. During this interim period, Meta recommends that users in Turkey either deactivate their accounts or remove them permanently. In the event that Threads is brought back to the country, users who deactivate their accounts will have their posts and conversations restored.
There are a number of individuals who, in addition to Turkish regulators, are of the opinion that the automated connecting between Threads and Instagram is, at best, a little weird. From the time the platform was first introduced a year ago, it has been a source of dispute. Despite the fact that Meta fixed this issue a few months ago, users were unable to cancel a Threads account without also nuking their Instagram account because the apps were so intertwined.
In addition, Meta started advertising Threads postings on Facebook and Instagram without the users’ agreement. Eventually, the company made it possible for users to refuse to participate in the “feature.” This is the kind of automatic data-sharing that caused the TCA to become agitated, which ultimately led to the newly issued injunction.
Additionally, this is not the first time that Meta and Turkey have engaged in a regulatory conflict. According to a report by TechCrunch, the nation levied a fine of $18.6 million against Meta in 2022 for the company’s ability to share data across its various applications. According to the allegations, this is a violation of the competition laws of the country. Meta was requested by the country to provide documentation that detailed the company’s attempts to prevent the breach of these regulations; nonetheless, Turkish regulators commented that the explanations were insufficient. As a consequence of this, the nation imposed extra sanctions on Meta, equivalent to a daily amount of 160 thousand dollars.