Ministry of Trade fines 82 businesses for hiding social media ad prices

The Turkish Ministry of Trade has intensified inspections of real estate and automotive advertisements shared on social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. The crackdown targets businesses that hide pricing information by using phrases such as ‘Price for DM’ or ‘Message for price’ instead of stating the cost clearly.

As a result of these inspections, 42 real estate businesses and 40 automotive galleries were issued administrative fines totaling 8.2 million TL. The Ministry emphasized that the Electronic Advertisement Verification System (EİDS), which requires identity and authority verification, applies to social media advertisements as well as traditional listing sites.

To comply with regulations, businesses must provide a verified EİDS link and clearly state the sale price in their posts. Beyond financial penalties, the Ministry has initiated processes to block access to non-compliant social media accounts through Meta.