Turkey bans social media for minors!
Turkey follows Australia and other countries to ban social media for children under 15.
Ankara, Apr 23 (EFE).-
Turkey’s parliament voted to ban access to social media for children under 15 and will require platforms to establish effective age verification systems and parental controls.
The legislation is part of a broad legislative project approved Wednesday night, which introduces measures to regulate the digital environment and strengthen the protection of minors online, NTV television reported Thursday.
Specifically, social media providers will not be allowed to offer services to users under that age and must implement age verification systems, as well as easy-to-use parental control tools.
The text, promoted by the party of Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also establishes additional obligations for digital platforms.
Among these, they are required to act swiftly against content deemed harmful, publish the measures taken against it, and prevent the dissemination of misleading advertising.
Legal definitions are also introduced for concepts related to the video game industry, and the regulations stipulate that content that has not been previously classified cannot be offered and that any content that fails to meet this requirement must be removed.
The debate on the use of social media by minors has intensified recently in Turkey following two recent attacks on schools perpetrated by students, which have resulted in 11 deaths and dozens injured, mostly students.
The opposition, led by the social-democratic Republican People’s Party, opposed the law, arguing that it could pave the way for greater restrictions and surveillance on the internet.
The move comes after Australia became the first nation to ban people under 16 years of age from using social media platforms.
Other countries such as France, Denmark, Greece and Spain are also in the process of implementing or considering similar regulations. EFE
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