Penalty for misleading advertising from the Ministry of Commerce

The Advertising Board of the Ministry of Commerce announced that the board evaluated 1,159 files at this month’s meeting, and misleading advertisements or unfair trade practices were detected in 1,031 files.

The Board announced that a total administrative fine of TL 39.5 million was imposed on 1,031 files found to be misleading advertisements or unfair trade practices, as well as a suspension penalty.

In the press release of the Ministry of Commerce on the subject, it was noted:

“At its 334th session held on June 13, 2023, the Board of Advertising did not give a pass to say stop, with ads that mislead and deceive consumers, exploiting their lack of experience and knowledge, and many administrative sanctions, including barriers. of access to unfair commercial practices.

200 of the 219 files discussed by the Advertising Board at this month’s meeting were declared contrary to the legislation, and it was decided to impose an administrative fine of 9,713,552-TL in total, together with the sanction of suspension, for the aforementioned advertising and commercial applications, and apply a measure to block access to 12 files. Thus, in the first month of the year, opinions and evaluations were issued on a total of 1,159 files by the Board, and an administrative fine for a total of 39,555,306-TL was imposed on 1,031 files that constituted misleading advertising or unfair commercial practices. , as well as an administrative fine of TL 39,555,306, it was decided to prevent it.

One of the main agenda items of the 334th meeting of the Board was that of companies that caused harm to consumers as a result of their activities with the intent to deceive and deceive by abusing the trust of consumers who want to obtain services from visa through their websites, which they created to give the impression of being the authorized representative of embassies and consulates of various countries. In this context, it was decided to arrest 8 companies and impose administrative fines, as well as prevent access to the corresponding websites.

On the other hand, another important point on the Board’s agenda is the use of false and unfounded consumer evaluations and ranking practices in relation to the user experience, which has an important place in the purchase preferences of consumers in the Distance contracts established through the Internet, especially in electronic commerce markets, have created practices that cause an unrealistic perception of the product sold, leading to unfair competition and consumer victimization. It has been decided to suspend and impose administrative fines on those involved in the aforementioned actions, as well as to block access to the corresponding websites.