Turkey Slaps Advertising Ban on Twitter and Other Platforms under Its New Social Media Law

According to the decision released on Tuesday, Turkey has imposed advertising ban on Twitter, Periscope and Pinterest because they didn’t appoint local representatives in Turkey under its New Social Media Law, Reuters reported. Under the Law, social media companies that do not appoint local representatives will be subject to a series of penalties, including the latest move by BTK (Bilgi Teknolojileri ve letişim Kurumu).

The Law allows the authorities to remove content from the platform, instead of blocking access as in the past. This has aroused people’s attention, because after Turkey has strengthened its control over mainstream media, people have turned more to online platforms.

Turkey’s Official Gazette’s latest decision stated that the advertising ban will take effect from Tuesday. Twitter, its live-streaming app Periscope and photo sharing app Pinterest did not immediately comment.

Omer Fatih Sayan, chairman of the Turkey’s Information and Communication Technology Authority, said that the bandwidth of Twitter and Pinterest will be cut by 50% in April and 90% in May. Twitter said last month that Periscope would be shut down by March due to its decline in usage.

“We are determined to protect our country’s data, privacy and rights at all costs”, Sayan tweeted. He said “We will never allow digital fascism and ignorance of rules to prevail in Turkey” to respond to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s tough words.

On Monday, Facebook and other companies said that they would each appoint a local representative, but added that they would withdraw this decision if they face pressure about permission on their platforms. Google’s YouTube said a month ago that it would comply with the new law. Turkey said that this law has strengthened local supervision of foreign companies.

The decisions of Facebook, Google and YouTube put them “in serious danger of becoming tools of national censorship,” Milena Buyum, a Turkish activist at Amnesty International, wrote on Twitter. She called on them to explain clearly how to avoid this situation. 

In the past few months, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter faced fines in Turkey for non-compliance with the law. Companies that do not comply with the law will end up with bandwidth cuts and basically blocked access.

Erdoğan said last week that those who control data can establish a “digital dictatorship” by ignoring democracy, laws, rights and freedom. He vowed to defend what he called the country’s “cyber home”.