The Advertisement Board, operating under the Ministry of Commerce, held its last meeting on May 9.
The Board made comments and evaluations on 195 files that were put on the agenda at the meeting. At the meeting, while the decision to postpone a file was made, 170 of 194 files were found to be against the legislation and it was decided to impose an administrative fine of 7 million 677 thousand 231 liras.
One of the main agenda topics of this month’s meeting of the Board is Meat and Milk, an economic state enterprise, with names such as “Meat and Fish Butcher”, “Meat Fish Restaurant”, “Meat and Fish Province/District Name”, “Meat and Fish Arrangement”. The institution became businesses operating with names and promotional images imitating the title and logo of the Meat and Fish Corporation, formerly known in the society.
As a result of the examinations made by the Board of Advertisement, it was evaluated that the reputation of the Meat and Dairy Authority was abused by the promotions made by these enterprises, and the consumers’ trust was abused, and therefore the lack of experience and knowledge of the consumers was exploited.
60 enterprises discussed in the agenda of the Board were given administrative fines of 2 million 116 thousand 761 liras and the suspension of the said promotions. Thus, in the last two meetings covering April and May, a total of 3 million 227 thousand 193 lira administrative fine was imposed on 92 enterprises. The Board will continue to monitor the promotions in question, which are deceptive and misleading to consumers.
Penalty for manipulation on e-commerce sites
At the same meeting, the Board of Advertisement manipulated the data on features such as “store follower counts”, “product favorites/add to cart”, “creation of collections”, “asking questions” on e-commerce sites operating as a marketplace, and thereby increasing the rankings of related products-businesses. Action was also taken against 13 individuals and organizations that act to highlight or increase the likelihood of being included in various lists, manipulate the negative comments in such a way as to reduce their visibility, and direct people who do not buy goods or services from the relevant businesses to comment. The Board decided to impose an administrative fine of 1 million 41 thousand 384 liras on individuals and organizations within this scope and to stop advertisements and to block the access of the said websites.
