Turkish antitrust authority ends Meta probe over Threads data-sharing

Turkey’s competition board said on Thursday that it has decided to terminate an investigation of Meta Platforms regarding data-sharing between social media platforms Threads and Instagram.

Commitments presented by the company to address competition concerns are sufficient and hence the authority decided to end the investigation, it said in a statement.

As part of the commitments Meta sent to the authority, both existing Threads users and new users will be able to use the platform by opening a Threads profile without requiring an Instagram account, when the app is reinstated for access in Turkey.

Meta told the antitrust authority that unless the users in question choose to merge their accounts, their data obtained through Threads will not be merged with Instagram.

The board launched the investigation into Meta last year over a possible violation of competition law related to the linking of its social media platforms.

In April, Meta temporarily shut down its Threads social media platform in Turkey to comply with an interim order from the Turkish competition authority.