Turkey to act against social media firms 'if they rebuff new regulations'

ARTVİN

Turkey will take all necessary measures against social media platforms if they insist on not complying with the new social media regulations law, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu has said.

The new law, which came into force as of Oct. 1, requires foreign-based social media network providers, such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, to assign at least one representative in the country.

According to the new regulations, those companies should assign a representative by Nov. 1 this year.

Companies could face fines, the blocking of advertisements or have bandwidth slashed by up to 90 percent, under the new regulations on cases if they fail to designate a representative.

“The law has already taken effect, which foresees penalties for those who do not comply with the legislation. They must have a representative. We will wait and take actions gradually and accordingly. We will fully implement the law and do what the law requires,” Karaismailoğlu said.

The minister also said that officials are still holding talks with those social media providers.

The U.S-based platforms have approached Turkey’s Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) regarding the latest regulations, daily Sabah reported.

Officials from those social media providers told the authority that they want to wait for the outcome of the U.S presidential elections and the Turkish Constitutional Court’s ruling on the appeal by the main opposition People’s Republican Party (CHP) against the social media law, according to the daily.