Additional Regulations on the Obligations of Social Network Providers Have Been Introduced

Platforms such as personal websites, e-commerce websites and news websites, where content for social interaction is not the primary purpose and is provided as a secondary or ancillary service, are not considered social network providers and are excluded from the scope of the Procedures and Principles.

I. Appointment of the Representative

With the Law, foreign social network providers with more than 1 million daily accesses were obliged to appoint at least 1 representative in Turkey. The social network provider may appoint a real person resident in Turkey and a Turkish citizen or a legal entity established in Turkey and acquired legal personality in accordance with Turkish legislation as a representative.

If the representative of a foreign social network provider with more than 10 million daily access from Turkey is a legal entity, this representative must be a branch established as a stock corporation. The conditions for being accepted as a representative as a stock corporation by ICTA are also specified.

The Procedures and Principles set out the duties of the representative, the requirement for the social network provider to include the contact information of the representative on its website, and the procedure for notifying the representative to the ICTA.

In case of failure to fulfill these obligations, the sanctions to be applied are listed chronologically. At first, 30 days will be given by the ICTA to appoint a representative. If a representative is not appointed within the given period, an administrative fine of TRY 10 million, and TRY 30 million in case of repetition, may be imposed. Moreover, in the following processes, real persons and legal entities resident in Turkey who are taxpayers may be banned from placing advertisements on the social network provider, and internet traffic bandwidth may be increasingly reduced by between 50% and 90%.

II. Responding to Applications Submitted by the Complainants

According to the Law, persons who claim that their personal rights or right to privacy have been violated due to the broadcast content on the internet have the right to apply to the relevant authorities and request the removal of the content or blocking of access. With the Procedures and Principles, it is regulated that the representative appointed by the social network provider with more than 1 million daily access from Turkey must respond positively or by stating the reason negatively within 48 hours at the latest to the applicant claiming that such rights have been violated. In addition, claimers should be able to submit an application in Turkish. Accordingly, applications made in Turkish should be responded to in Turkish.

In case of failure to fulfill the obligations to respond to the applications, an administrative fine of TRY 5 million shall be imposed on the social network provider.

In this context, social network providers should establish an application mechanism for the removal of title tags and highlighted content with a warning to enable people to make an application and inform the ICTA about the application mechanisms to be operated in the reports under Title III.

III. Reporting

With the Procedures and Principles, the social network providers with more than 1 million daily accesses from Turkey is obliged to submit a report to the ICTA in Turkish on a semi-annual period, containing statistical and categorical information regarding the decisions to remove content and/or block access, the notifications made to the ICTA regarding the implementation thereof, and applications made directly to the ICTA by individuals. The information to be included in the report is also detailed.

A social network provider with more than 1 million daily access from Turkey is obliged to publish an anonymised report on its website, which will be prepared regarding the requests for violation of the right to personality or right to privacy, due to the content of the publication made on the internet. Failure to comply with these obligations will result in an administrative fine of TRY 10 million.

IV. Advertising Library

With the Procedures and Principles, a social network providers with more than 1 million daily access from Turkey are obliged to create an ad library containing information such as; the content and type of advertisements, the advertiser, the period during which the advertisement remains live, the target audience and the parameters used to determine the target audience, and the number of people and groups reached by the advertisement. The social network provider must place the ad library on its website in a way that it can be easily seen and directly accessed. Otherwise, an administrative fine of TRY 10 million may be imposed.

V. Storage of Data in Turkey

According to the Law, social network providers with more than 1 million daily accesses from Turkey are obliged to take the necessary measures to host the data of Turkish users in Turkey. With the Procedures and Principles, this obligation should be prioritized for basic user information and data that may be notified by the ICTA. Otherwise, an administrative fine of up to 3% of the global turnover in the previous calendar year may be imposed.

VI. Informing the Judicial Authorities

With the Procedures and Principles, the representative of the social network provider is obliged to respond to the information requested by the prosecutor's office or the court in order to reach the perpetrators of crimes against state secrets and espionage, disrupting the unity and territorial integrity of the state, publicly disseminating misleading information, crimes against the constitutional order and the functioning of this order, and crimes related to the sexual abuse of children. Otherwise, social network providers may be subject to the necessary procedure to reduce the internet bandwidth by 90%.

VII. Content Removal and Compliance to Access Blocking Decisions

According to the Law, a decision may be made to remove content and/or block access to publications made on the internet and the content of which has sufficient suspicion that constitutes the crimes regulated in the Law. With the Procedures and Principles, an administrative fine of TRY 1 million will be imposed on social network providers who fail to fulfill these decisions. Furthermore; in case of failure to fulfill the decision of the President of the ICTA, (i) the social network provider may be banned from advertising by taxpayers resident in Turkey for up to 6 months, and (ii) the necessary procedure may be carried out to reduce the internet traffic bandwidth of the social network provider at increasing rates between 50% to 90%.

VIII. Protection of User Rights

Social network providers,

i. Act equally and impartially between users,
ii. Providing users with the option to update preferences regarding the content it recommends and to limit the use of personal data,
iii. Notify the ICTA and users in Turkish language within 72 hours at the latest from the detection of significant security breaches related to user accounts affecting users accessing from Turkey,
iv. Ensure that updates affecting user rights are easily accessible to users,
v. to make available on its website in a clear and easily accessible manner which parameters it uses when providing recommendations to users, and
vi. Establish a Turkish, clear and easily accessible application mechanism for hacked or impersonated accounts and finalize the applications within a reasonable time.

Whilst other regulations regarding user rights must also be complied with by ICTA, failure to comply with these obligations will result in an administrative fine of up to 3% of the global turnover in the previous calendar year.

IX. Protection of the Safety of Life and Property, Creating a Crisis Plan, Informing ICTA, Providing Segregated Services for Children

Social network provider is obliged to (i) immediately notify law enforcement authorities of any information regarding content that jeopardizes the safety of life and property in cases where delay is inconvenient, (ii) create a crisis plan for extraordinary situations affecting public security/public health and notify the ICTA of the crisis plan, (iii) to notify the ICTA within 3 months at the latest of the information requested by the ICTA, including organizational structure, information systems, algorithms, processing mechanisms and commercial attitudes, (iv) take necessary measures in this regard by providing children-specific differentiated services. Otherwise, an administrative fine of up to 3% of its global turnover in the previous calendar year is imposed.

X. Non-payment of Administrative Fines, Advertising Bans, General Liability

The ICTA is authorized to conduct viewing at the social network provider's premises to determine whether the social network provider is acting in compliance with the Law and the Procedures and Principles.

If administrative fines are not paid more than once within 1 year, the social network provider may be banned from advertising by taxpayers resident in Turkey for up to 6 months. During the advertising ban, no new agreement may be concluded with the social network provider, and it is also prohibited to transfer money to the social network provider. Turkish resident taxpayers who violate the advertising ban may be subject to administrative fines between TRY 10,000 and TRY 100,000. In addition, social network providers will be liable for damages in case of failure to remove the content or block access within 24 hours despite the decision of the judge or court.


You may find the Turkish version of the Regulation here.


Dilek Akdaş Kökenek, Partner
Bahar Esentürk, Senior Associate
Dilara Kürkçüoğlu, Associate