TR 
EN 
Information and Communication Technologies Authority of Turkey (“ICTA”) drafted its procedures and principles regarding the implementation of obligations of social network providers based on the Law on the Regulation of Broadcasts via Internet and Prevention of Crimes Committed through Such Broadcasts No. 5651 (“Law No. 5651”) with Information and Communication Technologies Board Decision numbered 2020/DK-?D/274 and dated September 29, 2020 on the Procedures and Principles Regarding Social Network Providers (“Procedures and Principles”) which was published in the Official Gazette numbered 31262 and dated October 2, 2020.
By thus social network providers with more than one million daily accesses have to take into consideration the provisions introduced by the amendments dated July 31, 2020 made in the Law No. 5651 and details provided by the Procedures and Principles to comply with their new set of obligations.
Further Guidance on the Scope of Application
Social network provider has been firstly defined in law which refers to individuals or legal entities getting users enable to create, view or share contents such as texts, images, recordings, location via internet for purpose of social interaction shall be a social network provider. Accordingly, the Procedures and Principles indicates that the websites/platforms that do not fall within the scope of this definition. In addition, providing content for social interaction purposes in a limited/partial manner is not sufficient to fall within the scope of a social network provider. For instance, platforms providing content as secondary services to their main services for social interaction purposes such as personal websites, electronic commerce websites, and news websites are not considered as social network provider.
Further Details on Obligations of Representatives
With the amendments dated July 31, 2020, foreign-based social network providers with more than one million daily accesses were obligated to appoint at least one representative in Turkey. In parallel the Procedures and Principles requires a foreign-based social network provider’s representative in Turkey to be a legal entity established in Turkey. Accordingly representatives are obliged to provide the followings:
– Fulfilling the necessities of legal notifications, requests, or other notifications to be sent by the ICTA, Union, or administrative and judicial authorities.
– Answering the requests to be filed by the individuals within the scope of the Law No. 5651.
– Drafting statistical reports including categorical information for every six months regarding applications made by a real person or legal entity, institution, or organization or regarding application of removal of content decisions within the scope of the Law No. 5651. The reports must be drafted in Turkish.
– Fulfilling the responsibilities and obligations of social network providers because of being a content or hosting provider.
In case of changes in the contact information of the representative(s), the changes are immediately posted on the website. Likewise, the ICTA have to be informed regarding the changes in the contact, identity, and title information of the representative(s) within at least twenty-four hours.
Use of Turkish Language
Use of Turkish language by social network provider become compulsory for request by the users filing requests in Turkish.
Data Localization
The Procedures and Principles sets forth provisions regarding data localization obligations. Accordingly, foreign-based or local-based social network providers are required to take necessary measures to store any data of its users in Turkey. Furthermore, social media providers have to prioritize data localization of the ‘essential user information’ and any other information to be determined by the ICTA. Moreover, it is compulsory to inform the ICTA regarding the measures taken in order to ensure data localization in reports to be submitted every six months period.
Background
The Law No. 5651 was amended with the amendments published in the Official Gazette on July 31, 2020 which introduced the definition of social media provider and aimed to engage social network providers more actively in combat against illegal content which violates personal rights and, especially, right to privacy. (See for more detailed information on the amendments dated July 31, 2020; http://herdem.av.tr/new-obligations-for-social-media-platforms-in-turkey)
Under the amendments dated July 31, 2020, obligations of social network providers were regulated, and various sanctions regarding nonfulfillment of such obligations were stipulated. Accordingly, serious administrative fines, advertisement bans for certain periods, and deduction on social network providers’ internet traffic bandwidth were introduced as sanctions as per the Law No. 5651 by the amendments dated July 31, 2020.
Aslı Naz Ünlü, Ezgi Ceren Aydoğmuş
