The Turkish Parliament passed a new law aimed at banning the use of social media platforms by children under the age of fifteen.
The law requires social media companies to activate mechanisms to verify the ages of users, in addition to providing tools for parental control, and accelerating the pace of response to harmful content published on these platforms.
According to a report by the Associated Press, the adoption of this law came after two shooting incidents in Turkish schools that left victims, and after the local police arrested 162 people on charges of publishing video clips of the two incidents on the Internet.
The law gives Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan 15 days to ratify it to become effective, after previous statements in which he described social media platforms as “swamps” during a television speech.
The law is not limited to social media platforms only, but also includes electronic gaming companies, as it requires them to apply similar restrictions on minor users, with the possibility of imposing penalties that include reducing internet speed or financial fines in the event of non-compliance.
This step comes in a context of recurring tension between Turkey and digital platforms, as the Turkish authorities blocked the “Instagram” platform in 2024 due to political differences, before lifting the ban after about a week. They had also previously banned the game “Roblox” following reports of content described as inappropriate for children.
Turkey has previously imposed temporary restrictions on the “X” platform on several occasions, most recently following the 2023 earthquake, without providing full official explanations of the reasons.
It is worth noting that there is a global trend towards restricting minors’ access to digital platforms, as several countries around the world have begun implementing similar legislation after Australia, which was the first country to ban the use of social media for those under 16 years old last year. (aitnews)
