With the Regulation Amending the Regulation on Commercial Advertisements and Unfair Commercial Practices, published in the Official Gazette on 1 July 2026, the following amendments and additions have been introduced to the Regulation, effective as of 1 August 2026:

 

1.) Where advertisements include digital characters created through artificial intelligence technologies that cannot be distinguished from real persons, this fact must be clearly and explicitly disclosed. Furthermore, advertisements that create the impression that an AI-generated digital replica of a real person has personally experienced or endorsed a product are prohibited.

 

2.) The existing prohibition on advertisements for services provided by fortune tellers, psychics, astrologers, and similar individuals, as well as advertisements related to illegal betting and gambling activities, has been expanded to also cover illegal games of chance.

 

3.) The period granted to sellers or service providers to exercise their right to provide an explanation or response before consumer complaints are published has been reduced from seventy-two hours to forty-eight hours.

 

4.) The use of general environmental claims such as “environmentally friendly” in advertisements without further explanation has been prohibited. Environmental claims must now specify the stage of the product’s or service’s life cycle to which the claim relates. In addition, certificates and approvals referred to in advertisements containing environmental claims must be substantiated by documentation obtained from competent authorities and institutions, relevant university departments, or accredited or independent research, testing, and assessment organizations.

 

5.) Advertisements for food supplements that create the impression that such products can replace a normal diet have been prohibited. At the same time, comparative advertising concerning matters other than health claims has been permitted. The misleading or deceptive use of academic titles in commercial advertisements has also been prohibited.

 

6.) The publication of consumer reviews obtained from platforms or channels where the purchasing process cannot be verified has been prohibited.

 

7.) In targeted advertising practices based on the analysis of consumers’ online behavior, advertisers are now required to provide consumers with direct and easily accessible information regarding the criteria used to display advertisements and the means by which such criteria may be modified. In addition, targeted advertising directed at children through profiling based on personal data has been completely prohibited.

 

8.) Conditional sales advertisements that make discounts or benefits available to consumers subject to certain conditions have been brought within the scope of the rules governing discounted sales. In discounted sales advertisements, the previous price may be displayed as the lowest price applied during the ten days preceding the commencement of the discount, provided that it is shown with a strikethrough. For perishable goods such as fruits and vegetables, the immediately preceding price will be taken as the reference price.

 

9.) A new Article 23/A has been added to the Regulation following Article 23, introducing specific rules for social media influencers. Where influencers receive any form of benefit in exchange for a post, they are required to clearly disclose the advertising nature of the content by using labels such as “advertisement” or “promotion.” With this amendment, the scope of influencer advertising has been expressly defined within the Regulation. The Regulation further provides that such disclosures must be easily readable, perceptible, and distinguishable by consumers. Moreover, the obligation to disclose advertising content applies not only where monetary compensation is received, but also where other forms of benefit, such as participation in an event, are provided in return for the promotion.