AK Party to reconsider social media regulation
THE JUSTICE and Development Party (AK Party) has restarted work on a regulation that demands a representation in Turkey of global social media companies such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to oversee illegal content.
This regulation is needed in Turkey to protect basic rights and freedoms, AK Party staff said, adding that they will submit the regulation to the General Assembly in the coming days. The primary goal of the regulation is to protect human rights, according to AK Party sources. They said terror propaganda, drug trafficking, and inappropriate posts pose a danger to society. “The victims of these posts have gone through court processes to have them removed but since there is no representation in Turkey, they can’t do anything about it. If there was representation of these social networks in Turkey, they could have decided whether the post would be removed or not and so the government could do what’s necessary and impose an administrative fine,” the sources said. Issues surrounding regulating of social media is now a priority around the world with the EU already publishing several doctrines.
THE CENSORSHIP DEBATE
In the draft law proposal submitted by the AK Party to non-governmental organizations in April, the regulation would place social media platforms under Law No. 5561 on the Regulation of Publications
On the Internet and Combatting Crimes Committed by Means of Such Publications. However, the draft bill submitted to the General Assembly did not include the regulation regarding social media platforms. The draft bill was criticized because it including allowing access to data of social media users, making way for censoring and therefore making social media nonfunctional.
WHAT DOES THE DRAFT BILL INCLUDE?
According to the draft bill, domestic or international social network providers that have over one million Turkish users will be asked to provide an answer to queries over content within 72 hours after the query is submitted. Providers will be asked to prepare quarterly reports for the Board containing statistical information regarding the implementation of decisions and removal of content. Also, domestic and international providers will be responsible for keeping the data of Turkish users in Turkey.
Social media companies that refuse to follow these rules will be charged an administrative fee between TRY 100,00 and TRY 5 million. If the illegal content determined by the law or the judgment of the court is reported to the social media company, the provider who does not remove the content or prevent access to the content within 24 hours will be responsible for compensation of damages.