Türkiye’s Competition Authority has launched a formal investigation into Google’s online advertising business to determine whether the company’s invoicing structure and related commercial practices may constitute an abuse of dominant position under national competition law.
The probe targets the economic unit composed of Alphabet Inc., Google Ireland Limited, Google LLC, Google International LLC, and Google Reklamcılık ve Pazarlama Ltd. Şti. The investigation was initiated under Article 41 of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition following a preliminary inquiry that began in January 2026.
The investigation focuses on Google’s practices toward advertisers and advertising agencies using its online advertising services. Authorities are examining whether the company may have engaged in discriminatory conduct through the way it invoices different customers.
The digital advertising sector operates through a multi-sided ecosystem that connects advertisers seeking to promote products and services with publishers offering advertising space on websites, applications, and other digital platforms. These relationships are facilitated by advertising technology services that automate the buying and selling of digital advertising inventory, particularly display advertising.
Within this ecosystem, advertisers provide marketing demand and budgets, while advertising agencies typically manage campaign planning, the selection of digital channels, budget allocation, and performance reporting.
The Competition Authority’s concerns relate to differences in tax obligations linked to Google’s international invoicing structure. Advertisers and advertising agencies that are invoiced through Google Ireland may be subject to withholding tax obligations under Turkish tax rules, while those invoiced through Google’s entity in Türkiye are not subject to the same requirement.
The authority is therefore assessing whether this structure could create unequal cost conditions for companies that belong to the same category of customers and whether such differences could lead to discriminatory outcomes.
The investigation will evaluate whether these practices could amount to an abuse of dominant position under Article 6 of Law No. 4054, particularly if the invoicing structure results in unequal treatment among advertisers or advertising agencies operating under similar conditions.
The Competition Board decided to open the investigation during its meeting on 5 March 2026 after reviewing information and documents collected during the preliminary inquiry. The Board concluded that the findings were sufficiently significant to justify a full investigation and adopted decision number 26-08/233-M to proceed.
During the investigation, the authority will examine in detail the criteria used by Google to classify its advertiser and advertising agency customers, whether this classification is objective, how it affects invoicing practices, and what cost implications it may create for undertakings. Authorities will also assess whether other discriminatory practices may arise from this classification system.
