Public Announcement Regarding Push Notifications via Mobile Applications

The Personal Data Protection Authority (“Authority”) has issued a public announcement regarding push notifications sent through mobile applications.

Pursuant to Law No. 6698 on the Protection of Personal Data, mobile application providers are mandated to ensure that their data processing activities comply with the general principles set forth in Article 4 and the data processing conditions stipulated in Article 5 of the Law. While push notifications provide rapid information to users, they rely on the processing of personal data within the scope of permissions obtained from the data subject.

Based on investigations conducted following complaints submitted to the Authority, it has been determined that certain mobile application providers obtain “bundled consent” for multiple purposes through a single confirmation. These providers have been found to mandate notifications-  which are inherent to the service- alongside marketing content, thereby forcing users to accept promotional and advertising notifications as a condition for service.

The Authority has emphasized that conditioning the provision of a service upon consent for data processing purposes (such as marketing) that are not directly related to said service invalidates “free will” which is a fundamental element of explicit consent.

Stating that conditioning service delivery on consent for unrelated processing purposes is unlawful, the Authority emphasized that, in accordance with the principle of “granular explicit consent”, an independent and separate choice must be provided for each distinct data processing purpose. Furthermore, the Authority underlined that the technical infrastructure of mobile applications must be designed to support these requirements, granting users the ability to distinguish and manage the types of notifications they wish to receive.

The Authority announced to the public that failure to comply will result in the implementation of necessary technical and administrative measures within the framework of Article 12 of the Law.

You may access the full text of the announcement via the following link: https://www.kvkk.gov.tr/Icerik/8578/mobil-uygulamalar-uzerinden-gonderilen-anlik-bildirimlere-iliskin-kamuoyu-duyurusu