Ministry bans over 2,000 social media posts unsafe for children

ANKARA

The Family and Social Policies Ministry has taken action on 2,158 digital posts deemed unsuitable and dangerous for children across various social media platforms, Minister Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş has announced.

"As a ministry, we closely monitor content in digital environments that could adversely affect children's psychosocial development. Within this scope, we intervened in 2,158 pieces of content through our social media group," Göktaş said in a written statement on June 18.

The ministry provided necessary psychosocial support to children identified as being at risk due to such content and scrutinized their family's situations if deemed necessary, the minister stated.

Göktaş underscored that children are vulnerable to issues such as cyberbullying, inappropriate content, the protection of personal data and privacy violations.

She emphasized that with the advent of digitalization, children have been increasingly at risk, and the ministry diligently monitors the content children encounter or may encounter in digital environments.

Within this framework, Göktaş elaborated that the social media working group established under the ministry actively pursues its mandate to identify risks children could face in digital environments and to conduct protective and preventive measures to keep them safe.

Göktaş highlighted the collaborative efforts in the intervention process with the Information and Communication Technologies Authority, the police’s Cybercrime Department and TV watchdog RTÜK.

The United Nations’ children agency identified cyberbullying as bullying with the use of digital technologies. It can take place on social media, messaging platforms, gaming platforms and mobile phones. It is repeated behavior, aimed at scaring, angering or shaming those who are targeted, according to UNICEF.

"Face-to-face bullying and cyberbullying can often happen alongside each other. But cyberbullying leaves a digital footprint – a record that can prove useful and provide evidence to help stop the abuse,” the organization said.