With the Presidential Decision published in the Official Gazette dated 06.04.2024 and numbered 32512, the Decision on the Determination of Companies Subject to Independent Audit was amended. With the amendment, the thresholds for joint stock and limited liability companies to be subject to independent audit have been increased. With this;

- Total assets was increased from 75 million Turkish Liras to 150 million Turkish Liras,

-Annual net sales revenue was increased from 150 million Turkish Liras to 300 million Turkish Liras.

The number of employees in the decision made about the companies in question was not changed and remained constant at 150.

Pursuant to the amendment, companies that exceed at least two of the thresholds specified in two consecutive accounting periods will be subject to independent audit from the next accounting period.

The amendments shall be applied to the accounting periods beginning on or after 01.01.2024.

The President's decision entered into force on 06.04.2024.

Link: https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2024/04/20240406-6.pdf

 

In 2021, the Competition Board conducted an investigation about META Platforms Inc. regarding the data collected from Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp services and the suspicion of abuse of dominant position regulated in Article 6 of the Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition. As a result of the investigation, as a result of the investigation, the Competition Board imposed an administrative fine of 4,796,152.96 TL on the gross revenues of 2022 for each day until META fulfilled these obligations, starting from 12 December 2023.

In the next investigation of the Competition Board on the META, it examined the situation regarding the merging of the application, Instagram and Threads applications, and the data of the users who created the Threads profile with the consent option. The Board considered that irreparable damages would be caused until the investigation was completed and subsequently issued an interim injunction.

It has been determined that META Platforms has a comprehensive data accumulation that comes with its long existence in the market, the size of its users and the diversity of its users make the situation difficult for its competitors, and the transfer of the knowledge it has gained from each application to another application increases its market power.

Upon the provisional measure decision of the Competition Board to prevent data consolidation behavior, Threads announced to its users that it would be temporarily closed in Turkey. The announcement goes; "Due to the decision of the Competition Board, Threads will not be available to people in Turkey as of 29.04.2024. Threads profile will be disabled, but your information can be downloaded and you can delete your profile at any time. We value the Threads community in Turkey and hope to return soon.”

It has been reported that META's use of Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp or other applications such as these and Threads in other countries will not be affected by the aforementioned closure. In addition, it has been announced to users that if Threads returns to Turkey, the interactions of users who have frozen their profile will be made visible again.

 

In its Bulletin No. 343, the Advertising Board included the decision to include deception in the content of the advertisement made by the chain market. 

In the in-store promotions made by the company, expressions such as "25% Discount on Fruit and Vegetable Products" were used. However, it was observed in the receipts of the consumers who shopped that the discount was not applied. 

As a result of the examinations, it has been determined that although the in-store promotion made in a certain branch of the chain market is made for fruits and vegetables, the discount is valid only for vegetable products. It is clear that the promotions made are misleading to the consumer.

It has been ruled that Articles 7/1, 7/2, 7/3, 7/4, 7/5 and 32/1 of the Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices Regulation and Article 6502 of the Law on Consumer Protection states are contrary to Article 61 which was regulated as; "(1) In connection with commercial advertising, trade, business, craft or a profession; These are announcements in the nature of marketing communication carried out by advertisers in any medium in writing, visual, audio and similar ways in order to ensure the sale or rental of a good or service, to inform or persuade the target audience. It is essential that commercial advertisements are accurate and honest in accordance with the principles determined by the Advertising Board, general morality, public order, and personal rights. Commercial advertising that deceives the consumer or exploits his/her lack of experience and knowledge, endangers the safety of life and property, encourages violent acts and crime, disrupts public health, exploits patients, elderly people, children and disabled people cannot be made. (4) Without expressly stating that it is an advertisement, the names, brands, logos or other distinctive forms or expressions related to the goods or services and the commercial title or business names in the articles, news, publications and programs for the purpose of advertising and their presentation in an introductory manner shall be considered as implicit advertisement. It is forbidden to make audio, written and visually covered advertisements in all kinds of communication tools. (5) Comparative advertising may be made for competing goods or services that meet the same needs or for the same purpose. Advertisers are obliged to prove the accuracy of the claims in their commercial advertisements. Advertisers, advertising agencies and media organizations are obliged to comply with the provisions of this article. (8) The restrictions to be imposed on commercial advertisements and the procedures and principles to be followed in these advertisements shall be determined by the regulation. ".

The Advertising Board decided to impose administrative fines and stopped the said advertisements as a punishment to the chain markets.

 

Last week, a new step was taken regarding the data protection law in the USA. Federal lawmakers have unveiled the first draft of this year's American Privacy Rights Act, an attempt to enact national data privacy protections.

The American Privacy Act of 2024 is a continuation of the American Data Privacy and Protection Act of 2021. Issues covered by the draft include;

- Introducing standard rules for measures to prevent data breaches

- Limiting it to the minimum amount that companies will need to provide personal data, products and services that they can process,

-The company managers directly assuming the responsibility of implementation, 

It means personal data relating to the race, ethnic origin, political opinion, philosophical belief, religion, sect or other belief, clothing, membership of associations, foundations or trade-unions, information relating to health, sexual life, convictions and security measures, and the biometric and genetic data.

- Prohibition of the application of dark patterns, which is defined as “a carefully crafted user interface to trick companies into doing things such as buying overpriced insurance with their purchases or signing up for recurring invoices”,

As such, it includes many regulations for the protection of personal data.

While some states worry that a national law would override states' data protection laws, the majority agree that a superior law on large amounts of consumer data should be passed.

Link; https://www.commerce.senate.gov/services/files/E7D2864C-64C3-49D3-BC1E-6AB41DE863F5#:~:text=The%20Act%20would%20prohibit%20the,against%20violations%20of%20the%20Act