Turkey fines social media giants for not appointing representatives in line with draconian law

Duvar English

Turkish authorities have fined social media giants for not appointing representatives to the country in line with a controversial law that came into force recently.

The due date set for the companies with over 1 million daily access from Turkey to appoint representatives was on Nov. 2, but only Russian social media platform VK conveyed the name of its representative to the Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK).

Transport and Infrastructure Deputy Minister Ömer Fatih Sayan said that companies, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Periscope and TikTok, were fined 10 million Turkish Liras each for not appointing representatives.

Sayan's announcement was ridiculed since he made it on Twitter.

Turkey's new social media regulation went into effect on Oct. 1 amid intense criticism on censorship, bringing along a string of restrictions for social media companies, including the requirement to open offices in Turkey, and a halving of their bandwidth if they fail to comply.

The social media giants will be fined 30 million liras if they don't abide by the law in 30 days. If they once again reject the appointment in this duration, an advertisement ban will be placed.

In case they insist on not appointing representatives within three months after the second fine is issued, the next step will be decreasing their bandwidth by 50 percent and it will further decrease by 90 percent if they don't abide.

Sayan said that those who accept appointing representatives will pay one fourth of the said fine, the ban on advertisement will be lifted and the bandwidth will be returned to normal.