Media and advertising law in TÜRKİYE key developments and predictions

Gün + Partners review media and advertising laws in Türkiye

The year 2024 was of significance for the development of advertising law in Türkiye. On the one hand, amendments to the Consumer Protection Law strengthened the regulatory oversight and enforcement capacity of the Advertisement Board; while on the other hand, as a result of effective examinations carried out by the Advertisement Board, numerous prominent and precedent decisions were rendered in terms of commercial advertising and unfair commercial practices.

According to information obtained from publicly available sources, in 2024, the Advertisement Board reviewed 1,917 cases, and of these 1,705 where found to be deceptive advertisements and unfair commercial practice and the Board imposed suspension penalties in addition to administrative fines totalling TRY 227,600,000.[1] It is anticipated that the Advertisement Board’s effective oversight will continue in 2025, and with the increase in administrative fines, deterrence will also be strengthened.

With the amendments to the Consumer Protection Law on 30 October 2024, a significant increase was made in the administrative fines imposed by the Advertisement Board. The administrative fines regulated under Article 77 titled “Penalty Provisions” of Law No. 6502 will be applied as of 01 January 2025, with an increase of 43.93%, as announced by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance in accordance with the seventh paragraph of Article 17 titled “Administrative Fine” of the Misdemeanour Law No. 5326. Thus, in 2025, the administrative fines imposed by the Advertisement Board will range from a minimum of TRY 79,161 to a maximum of TRY 31,808,530, depending on the medium where the violation occurred.

The amendments to the Consumer Protection Law have provided the possibility for reconciliation with the Ministry regarding the administrative fines imposed by the Advertisement Board. Additionally, with the amendment made to the Consumer Protection Law on 23 May 2024, the Advertisement Board's power to deny access has been re-established in accordance with the principles of proportionality and necessity as outlined in the decision of the Constitutional Court.

Another significant development concerns social media influencers. In 2024, social media influencers continued to play a significant role in marketing with a high volume of advertisements. Therefore, in order to ensure greater compliance with legal obligations and the regulations stipulated in the legislation, the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, and the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board have initiated the "Responsible Social Media Influencers Training”.[2] The first of these bi-monthly training sessions was held on 25 November 2024, and was open to social media influencers with over 300,000 followers on the Instagram platform. These training sessions are expected to continue in 2025.

The Advertisement Board examined various deceptive commercial practices and misleading website designs used by companies in 2024 to collect data from consumers. Given that the issue is intertwined with the personal data protection law and consumer protection law, a Cooperation Protocol was signed on 28 August 2024, between the Ministry of Trade's Directorate General of Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance and the Personal Data Protection Authority.[3]

Furthermore, in 2024, the Advertisement Board closely examined keyword advertising, comparative advertisements, and "dark patterns", i.e. commercial designs known for being manipulative, and issued precedent decisions for the future.

This document discusses important developments in advertising and media law in Türkiye and some of the recent decisions of the Advertisement Board that shed light on these issues.