Turkey Fines Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and Other Companies for Violating New Laws #News

Turkey fined Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Periscope, and TikTok 10 million lire (US$1.2 million) for failing to disclose information about its representatives in Turkey in a timely manner. This is the country’s new law governing social media regulations. Conceived Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Omer Sayan said on Wednesday.

In July, the Turkish Parliament passed a law on social media, which requires large platforms to appoint Turkish citizens as representatives of the country. In addition, social media platforms must now keep all the data of their Turkish customers inside Turkey. The law came into effect in early October, and the law also envisages deleting information that the country’s authorities consider offensive.

"If social networks fail to notify Turkish regulators of their representatives within 30 days of imposing a fine, they will be fined another 30 million lire (about 3.5 million U.S. dollars). The authorities will prohibit advertising on these social networks "Sayan said, adding that the next step will involve reducing Internet traffic for violators.

The official added that if the social media platform appoints a representative in time, the fine will be reduced by four times.

The United Nations condemned Turkey’s new law and said it undermined freedom of speech.