AKP submits social media bill to parliament, says user data will be stored in Turkey

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The Justice and Development Party (AKP) has submitted a law proposal on social media to the parliament.

According to the bill, social media companies will be obliged to have a representative and "encouraged to" store users' data in Turkey.

"We define 'social media providers' in the law. We want these providers to establish a center in Turkey. We will make an arrangement that enables investigation and prosecution," said Özlem Zengin, the deputy chair of the AKP's parliamentary group.

President and AKP Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in early July that they would introduce a bill to "either completely ban or regulate social media." 

"Our first priority is never the closure of social media providers. We are aware of their place in our lives. We are aware of how much they are used," Zengin remarked, adding that they would strike a balance between freedoms, rights and law.

They aimed to end insults, bad language and harassment on social media, she said.

According to the bill, social media networks that have more than one million daily hits will have additional responsibilities, including having a representative in Turkey, Zengin noted. "[The representative] can be either a legal entity or a natural person. If it will be a natural person, it must be a Turkish citizen."

The representatives will be held accountable in legal affairs.

If a person thinks there is a violation regarding their personal rights, they would be able to apply to the representative, which would have to respond within 48 hours, Zengin stated. Social media providers can be fined up to 5 million lira (~730,000 USD) in case of a violation of personal rights.

"We want to encourage [social media companies] to store users' data in Turkey as much possible," she further said and noted that people will have the "right to be forgotten" on social media.

Also, the penal judgeships of peace, which are authorized to impose access blocks on URL addresses and entire websites, will be able to request the removal of content as well.

Sanctions for social media companies

A five-stage sanctions process will be enforced if a company refuses to set up a representative agency in Turkey, the bill foresees:

1- 10 million lira (~1,46 million USD) fine and a 30-day waiting period.
2- 30 million lira (~4.38 million USD) fine.
3- Advertisements will be banned for three months
4- Fifty-percent bandwidth throttling upon an order by a penal judgeship of peace. Access providers will have to apply bandwidth throttling within four hours after the court verdict is given.
5- Ninety--percent bandwidth throttling upon an order by a penal judgeship of peace (AS/VK)