An investigation has been opened about GOOGLE in order to determine whether GOOGLE violated the Act no 4054 on the Protection of Competition (the Act no 4054) according to article 41 of the same Act.

The subject of the investigation is the claims that GOOGLE violated article 6 of the Act no 4054 by transferring its power in online search advertising services to other online advertising services via Performance Max (PMAX) campaign, which is a type of campaign in Google Ads, by engaging in exploitative practices against advertisers who use PMAX campaign and by distorting competition in the market through combining the data coming from different channels.  

Having discussed the information and documents acquired, and observations made in the preliminary inquiry in its meeting on 12.06.2025, the Competition Board considered that the findings were significant and sufficient, and took the decision numbered 25-22/519-M that an investigation shall be opened on GOOGLE.

PMAX, which was launched by GOOGLE in 2021, allows publishing ads in all ad inventories owned by GOOGLE (Google Shopping, Search, YouTube, Discover, Display Network and Maps) through a single campaign. Unlike other campaigns offered by GOOGLE, PMAX identifies the ad inventory that will maximize conversions in real-time and automatically optimizes ad delivery process thanks to its AI features. 

As a result of the analyses made during the preliminary inquiry, it was concluded that concerns were raised that GOOGLE violated article 6 of the Act no 4054 by making use of leverage effect via PMAX and transferring its power in online search advertising services to other online advertising services, carrying out exploitative practices against advertisers who use this campaign due to lack of transparency and control in PMAX campaign and distorting competition in the market through combining the data it obtained from its different channels (Chrome browser, Android operating system, etc.).