Radio and Television Supreme Council Authorized to Inspect Online Broadcasts

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Online broadcasting organizations have been taken under the inspection of Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK).

According to the "Regulation on Radio, Television and Voluntary Online Broadcasts" published on the Official Gazette today (August 1), Internet platforms such as Netflix will be obliged to get a license from the RTÜK.

These websites will also have to establish a company and pay taxes in Turkey so that they can continue operating in the country.

'Our aim is to establish procedures'

The objective of the new legal regulation has been explained as follows in the Official Gazette:

"The objective of this regulation is to establish procedures and principles as to the online broadcast and transmission of radio, television and voluntary broadcasting services; the broadcasting licences to be granted to media service providers and the authority of broadcast transmission to be given to platform operators; and the inspection of the related broadcasts."

It has also been indicated in the Gazette that the regulation in question will apply to "the private media service providing institutions that engage in online radio, television and voluntary broadcasts and the operators of these platforms that provide these broadcasting services."

Akdeniz: Access ban could be imposed on Netflix

Sharing a message about the newly-introduced regulation on his social media account, Prof. Dr. Yaman Akdeniz from the Faculty of Law of İstanbul Bilgi University has stated the following:

"The Regulation on the Article 29/A authorizing the RTÜK to censor the Internet has come into force today. An access ban could be imposed on Netflix platform and news sources publishing news from abroad such as DW Türkçe. It is apparently what they meant by Judicial Reform." (EKN/SD)