Turkey has ushered in a new era in the digital world following the Turkish Grand National Assembly’s (parliament) approval of a law that bans the use of social media by children under the age of 15. The legislation requires major platforms to implement age verification systems and parental control tools, making Türkiye the latest country to adopt such measures.
The draft reform of the so-called Law on Social Services and Other Regulations, which includes provisions on social networks as well as maternity leave, was passed by the Turkish parliament yesterday. Under this legislation, the use of platforms by children under the age of 15 is subject to greater scrutiny, with mandatory parental controls and age verification, with the aim of strengthening children’s digital safety.
According to reports in several Turkish media outlets, the new regulations aim to create safer digital environments for children under 15 through supervised use. Age verification systems will prevent exposure to inappropriate content for minors, taking into account their age and developmental stage; to achieve this, social media platform providers will not be permitted to offer these services to children under that age and must take the necessary measures to prevent this, whilst providing separate services for users over the age of 15.
Social media platforms must now develop clear, accessible and user-friendly parental control tools. These will include account settings management, authorisation for payment transactions — such as purchases, rentals or subscriptions — and functions to monitor and limit usage time. They will also be obliged to prevent misleading advertising practices.
Restrictions also apply to gaming platforms
Furthermore, social media platforms with more than 10 million daily users operating in Turkey must implement decisions issued by the authorities regarding the immediate removal or blocking of content within a maximum of one hour where there is a risk due to delay. They must also take all necessary measures to prevent the republication of content affected by such decisions on other websites and platforms.
In the field of video games, platforms may not offer titles without an age rating, unless they are directly assigned to the most restrictive category. Furthermore, they will be obliged to remove video games that have been incorrectly rated from the services they offer. Foreign gaming platforms with more than 100,000 daily users in Turkey must appoint a legal representative in the country to ensure compliance with notifications and requests from the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK), internet service provider associations, and judicial or administrative authorities.
Video game platforms must also implement parental control tools with functions similar to those required on social media, including restrictions on authorising payments, rentals and subscriptions. In the event of non-compliance with these obligations, the competent authority in Turkey – the BTK – will issue an initial notification to the platform; if the situation is not rectified within 30 days, it may face progressive financial penalties, which may initially reach 10 million liras (190,000 euros), and may include an additional penalty after that period of a further 30 million liras (570,000 euros). Ultimately, if the platform still fails to meet its obligations after the second deadline has passed, it will face a 30% reduction in bandwidth for access to its services.
This legislation, which addresses both the ban on access to social media for those under 15 and provisions regarding gaming platforms, will come into force in Turkey within six months of its publication in the Official Gazette. With these measures, Türkiye joins countries such as Australia, which last December became the first country in the world to adopt a similar law by banning access to these platforms for those under 16. In the European Union, several countries such as France, Denmark, Spain and Greece are promoting measures of this kind, whilst the EU has announced that a group of experts will issue a series of recommendations for member states.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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