New WhatsApp terms spark antitrust investigation, exodus from app in Turkey
Turkey launched an antitrust investigation into Facebook and its popular messaging service WhatsApp Monday after the application’s new privacy terms raised concerns, prompting some users to seek alternatives.
ISTANBUL — Turkey’s Competition Board launched an antitrust investigation into Facebook and its popular messaging service WhatsApp Monday after the application updated its privacy policies and raised concerns among local users, many of whom sought alternative messaging services over the weekend.
In a statement, the Competition Board ruled that WhatsApp’s new usage requirements, which will allow the app to share more data with Facebook starting Feb. 8, should be suspended until the investigation is completed. The board stated it would assess whether the policy change violated Turkish competition laws designed to prevent companies from abusing positions of market dominance.
WhatsApp, which has over 2 billion users worldwide, issued a policy update last week in which users must agree to share their phone numbers and location data with its parent company Facebook for marketing purposes or lose access to the messaging service.
Yaman Akdeniz, a law professor at Istanbul Bilgi University and a founder of the Freedom of Expression Association, said Facebook would “have to comply” with the board’s suspension request.
