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Turkey Fines Social Media Giants $3.8M for Failure to Hire Local Representatives, Report Says

MOSCOW, (Sputnik) - Turkey's Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) on Friday ordered several global social media platforms to pay a fine of 30 million Turkish liras ($3.8 million) each for failing to appoint local representatives, as mandated by recent legislation, the national Anadolu Agency reported.
Sputnik

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Periscope, Linkedin, Dailymotion, TikTok and other platforms with over one million daily users in Turkey had until November 2 to hire local representatives after the new media law came into force on October 1.

It is already the second series of penalties after the first 30-day period, when the Turkish authorities imposed a fine of 10 million Turkish liras (around $1.2 million) on the social media platforms over the same violation.

Turkey Fines Social Media Giants $3.8M for Failure to Hire Local Representatives, Report Says

In case of non-compliance, subsequent sanctions will include an advertising ban from Turkish companies and a gradual reduction of the internet bandwidth of the platforms.

The fine has not been issued against the Russian social network Vkontakte, which has appointed a representative in line with the new law.

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