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Turkey: Recent Amendments to Press, Social Media and Internet News Sites

Turkey: Recent Amendments to Press, Social Media and Internet News Sites

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Discussions on the Law on the Amendment to the Press Law and Some Laws" which is known as the Law on Combating Disinformation among the public and which includes regulations and amendments about social media and internet news sites (“Law Amendment”), was published in the Official Gazette dated 18.10.2022 and numbered 31987.

New Status of Internet News Sites

Internet news sites were included in the scope of periodicals and various obligations were brought. It has been regulated that contact information, update dates in the news, and recording the published content for 2 years, ensuring its accuracy and integrity in a way that it can be delivered to Public Prosecutor’s Office upon request will be included in internet news sites, directly accessible from the main page under the communication heading.

Applications for press cards, which are accepted as an official identity document and whose application procedure, types and features are determined, will be made to the Department of Communications with the Law Amendment.

In case of publications that violate the honor and dignity of individuals or consisting untrue content related to individuals, the correction and denegation of the person who has been harmed must be published in the same size on the page where the publication is located, within 1 day at the latest.

The Offense of Spreading Misleading Information to the Public

It has been regulated as a type of offense to publicly disseminate false information about the country's internal and external security, public order and general health in a way that may disrupt the public peace, just for the purpose of creating anxiety, fear or panic among the people with article 217/A added to the Turkish Penal Code No. 5237 (“TPC”) with the Law Amendment. The offense, which is punishable by imprisonment from 1 to 3 years, is regulated as a major offense if the perpetrator commits the offense by concealing its identity or within the framework of the activities of an organization.

New Regulations Regarding Social Media Channels

  • Obligation to Designate a Representative

In the previous amendments, foreign social network providers with more than one million daily access from Turkey were obligated to register a representative. Within the Law Amendment, if the representative is a natural person, this person has to be a resident of Turkey and a Turkish citizen.

In terms of the social network provider with more than ten million daily access from Turkey, it has been regulated that the person to be determined as a representative must be fully authorized and responsible for technical, administrative, legal and financial aspects, and if this representative is a legal entity, it must be a branch established directly by the social network provider as a capital company.

  • Transparency and Reporting

The scope of the reporting and transparency obligation introduced by the previous law amendment has been expanded with the Law Amendment. The reports to be submitted to the Information Technologies and Communications Authority (“ICTA”) by the social network providers should include title tags, algorithms regarding the highlighted or reduced content, information on advertising policies and transparency policies, create an ad library, and in addition, the obligation to provide the ICTA with the information and documents required for the implementation of the Law on Broadcasts Made on the Internet and Combating Offenses Committed Through These Broadcasts, if requested by the ICTA, is regulated.

  • Other Obligations

In particular, the following obligations are imposed on social network providers;

  • Providing the necessary information requested by the Public Prosecutor's Office or the court at the relevant investigation stage, in order to reach the perpetrators who create or spread internet content related to certain crimes with reference to the TPC,
  • Taking the necessary measures to provide segregated services specific to children,
  • Complying with the regulations regarding user rights to be made by the ICTA in order to protect the rights of its users,
  • Sharing the content and information about the creator of the content with the authorized law enforcement units, in the event that content that endangers the safety of life and property of persons is learned,
  • Providing all kinds of information and documents requested by the ICTA, including organizational structure, information systems, algorithms, data processing mechanisms and commercial behavior, within 3 months,
  • Creating a crisis plan for extraordinary situations affecting public safety and public health, and notifying the ICTA,
  • Establishing an application mechanism in cooperation with the ICTA to remove title tags or featured content with a warning method.
  • Sanctions

With the Law Amendment, the sanctions foreseen for social network providers who do not fulfill their obligations have been aggravated. The ICTA may impose an administrative fine of up to 3% of the social network provider's global turnover in the previous calendar year to the social network provider that does not fulfill its obligations. In addition, in order to make the advertising ban sanction introduced by the earlier amendment activate, the President may decide to impose an administrative fine from 10 thousand Turkish Liras to 1 hundred thousand Turkish Liras on natural persons and legal entities that are taxpayers and residents in Turkey who violate the advertising ban.

It is regulated that the social network provider shall be directly liable for the offense committed by the publication through title tags or highlighted content if it has been notified of the unlawful content and has not removed the content immediately within 4 hours at the latest after the notification of the content.

Regulation on Over-the-Network Service

The "Over-the-network service provider," which is defined for the first time with the Law Amendment, refers to the natural person or legal entity that provides interpersonal electronic communication services within the scope of audio, written, and visual communication to subscribers and users with internet access, independent of electronic communication service providers or internet service, through a software open to the public.  Over-the-network service providers will be able to carry out their activities through their fully authorized representatives in the status of a joint stock or limited company established in Turkey within the framework of the authorization to be granted by the ICTA; otherwise, administrative fines from 1 million Turkish Liras to 30 million Turkish Liras will be imposed.

Enforcement

With the Law Amendment, new regulations have been adopted to determine the obligations regarding newspapers in terms of internet news sites, in other words, new regulations regarding the advertisements and advertisements allowed to be published on internet news sites and objections to the news on internet news sites will enter into force on 01/04/2023, and other amendments will enter into force on the date of publication of the Law Amendment.

By Dilek Akdas Kokenek, Partner, Moral, Kinikoglu, Pamukkale, Kokenek