Facebook says starts process of appointing Turkey representative

ISTANBUL

Facebook Inc said on Jan. 18 it had started the process of appointing a legal entity as a local representative in Turkey in compliance with a new social media law.

Last year, Turkey imposed a fine of 40 million Turkish liras ($5.43 million) on multiple social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, for not complying with the law.

Turkey will limit the bandwidth of those platforms that flout the requirements by up to 90% and ban Turkey-based firms from running advertisements on them.

So far, VKontakte (VK), YouTube, TikTok, Dailymotion and LinkedIn have decided to assign local representatives in the country.

As part of the new legislation, social media firms must respond to requests by the Turkish government in the Turkish language and must answer requests concerning personal and privacy rights within 48 hours.

The platforms should also publish semi-annual reports on their response rates to such requests.

Social networks that do not comply with court orders to remove illegal content are to be subject to penalties, according to the law.

In addition, it also holds social media companies to take measures to host Turkey-based users' data in the country.