Two-Minute Recap – Competition Law Matters – Türkiye – 2026 April

A Tax Angle in Ad Tech: Google Under Investigation

The Turkish Competition Board (“TCB”) has launched an investigation into Google over its online advertising services, examining whether its billing practices towards advertisers and advertising agencies amount to an abuse of dominance.

The probe focuses on Google’s dual invoicing structure, under which certain customers are billed via Google Ireland Limited while others are invoiced through its Turkish entity, leading to different tax obligations. In particular, customers invoiced through Ireland may be subject to withholding tax under Turkish law, whereas those invoiced domestically are not.

The TCB will assess whether this distinction results in unequal cost burdens among similarly situated undertakings and whether it constitutes discriminatory treatment that may distort competition. The investigation will also examine the criteria used by Google to classify its customers and whether such classification is objective and