Facebook follows suit, appoints representative in Turkey amid growing concerns of censorship

While agreeing to comply with the country's new social media law, Facebook has said that it will withdraw its representative if it is asked to take actions that violate its Community Standards.

İstanbul

Facebook follows suit, appoints representative in Turkey amid growing concerns of censorship

Photo: Simon/Pixabay

Click to read the article in Turkish

Facebook announced today (January 18) that it will appoint a legal representative in Turkey in compliance with the country's new social media law.

Following YouTube and Tiktok and Daily Motion, Facebook has become the fourth platform to set up a legal entity in the country.

Rights groups have expressed concerns that the new law would facilitate arbitrary censorship and called on social media companies to refuse to abide by it.

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According to the law enacted at the start of October, social media platforms that have more than a million daily visits also have to store users' data in Turkey and remove content deemed illegal by courts within 24 hours.

Releasing a statement about its decision, Facebook said the processes it uses to examine requests by state agencies for removal of content won't change and it will withdraw its representative if it is asked to take actions that violate its Community Standards.

"We will continue to review and examine the requests coming from the state in line with our principles as well as our responsibilities coming from our membership in the Global Network Initiative," it said, adding that it would continue to comply with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

The move means that Facebook will avoid an advertising ban, which is among a series of gradual sanctions for companies failing to comply with the law.

The companies that haven't agreed to set up a legal entity in the country will be informed tomorrow that they will be banned from receiving ads in Turkey. The next step after the ad ban will be bandwith restrictions.

The government on December 11 fined Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube 10 million Turkish lira (~3.8 million USD) for not having set up a representative.

The social media law

According to the social media law that came into effect in Turkey as of October 1, 2020, social media platforms and companies that have more than one million daily visits such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Periscope, Linkedin, Dailymotion and TikTok have to appoint a legal representative in Turkey.

After the first 30-day period to appoint their representatives, authorities fined social media platforms 10 million Turkish liras (~1.2 million dollars) in November After the second 30-day term, the penalty rose to 30 million Turkish liras.

If companies still do not comply with the requirement by 90 days, Turkish advertisers will be banned from their sites.

Three months after the advertising ban, authorities will be able to reduce the internet bandwidth of these platforms by 50 percent first and then 90 percent after another month of non-compliance.

If the social media giants appoint local representatives, 75 percent of the fine will be waived and their bandwidth restored.

As part of the law, social media firms are obliged to answer requests from Turkey in Turkish. They must respond to requests on personal and privacy rights within 48 hours. The representative to be appointed by the companies should be a citizen of Turkey or a legal entity based in Turkey.

The platforms are also required to publish semi-annual reports for showing request statistics on personal and privacy rights.

Social networks that do not remove illegal content within 24 hours despite a court verdict will be held responsible. In addition, social media companies should take necessary measures to host Turkey-based users' data in Turkey.

(HA/VK)