Ministry of Trade audits social media advertisements: 152 businesses fined

The Ministry of Trade has tightened its inspections of real estate and vehicle advertisements published on social media platforms. Within the scope of the Electronic Advertisement Verification System (EİDS), 70 real estate and auto gallery businesses that failed to perform identity and authorization verification, did not share verified advertisement links, and did not include price information were fined 7 million TL. With these sanctions, the total number of businesses fined under EİDS has risen to 152, and the total fine amount has reached 15.2 million TL.

The Ministry also included social media platforms that are not integrated with EİDS and do not fulfill the necessary verification obligations within the scope of sanctions. In this context, Meta Platforms İstanbul Bilişim Hizmetleri Ltd. Şti. was fined 20 million TL, and TikTok İstanbul Dijital Medya ve Reklam Ltd. Şti. was fined 4 million TL. The total amount of fines imposed on Meta in this area has reached 36.2 million TL.

In the Ministry's statement, it was emphasized that the goal is to prevent consumers from being victimized by directions such as 'information will be provided via DM'. It was stated that inspections will continue to protect consumers and ensure transparency in the market, and businesses were warned to include EİDS links and price information in their advertisements.