Turkey's ruling party submits bill to regulate social media
Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has submitted a bill consisting of nine articles to regulate social media to parliament. If passed, the bill would require large social media providers to set up an office in Turkey and respond to orders to remove "offensive content" within 48 hours.
Duvar English - Anadolu Agency
Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has submitted a bill consisting of nine articles to regulate social media to parliament.
"We aim to end insults and swearing on social media and harassment through this form of media," Özlem Zengin, the party's deputy group chair, told reporters in parliament on July 21.
Zengin said that the bill is not meant to shut down social media providers, saying: "We're aware of its place in our lives and we're also aware of the extent of its use."
"But, in this sense, there is a series of tiered sanctions [in the bill] trying to set a balance between freedoms and rights and justice."
Noting that the bill would set a formal definition of social media providers, Zengin said its foremost aim is to designate a responsible representative for investigations and legal proceedings relating to offenses on social media.
She added that if passed, the bill would require large social media providers to set up an office in Turkey.
According to the bill, foreign-based social network providers that have more than one million visitors a day in Turkey will assign at least one representative in the country.
Under the bill, social network providers would have 48 hours to respond to orders to remove "offensive content."
Providers would also take necessary measures to store data on users in Turkey inside the country.
Administrative fines for providers who fail to meet their obligations would also be raised to encourage compliance.
On July 1, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed to control or shut down certain social media platforms after his daughter Esra Albayrak was insulted on Twitter. Erdoğan said that the government was preparing to create a new legal framework for social media with the aim to “abolish such platforms completely or to [have them] be controlled.”
In the following days, AKP officials said that a draft regulation with nine articles was already ready, but that further evaluation was ongoing in order to comply with international legislation in this field.