Turkey’s Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) has imposed fines each totalling TL30 million (€3.15 million) on leading social media companies for failing to employ local representatives in the country.
Hurriyet reports that this follows a new social media law that came into effect on October 1. Failure to comply within the first 30 days incurred a TL10 million fine, with this rising to TL30 million for the next 30 days.
The fines apply to platforms that are accessed over 1 million times a day in Turkey and so far Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Periscope, Linkedin, Dailymotion and TikTok are among several that have been fined. However, Russia’s VK is the only one to date to avoid a fine after appointing a local representative.
Hurriyet adds that failure to comply within 90 days will result in Turkish advertisers being banned from the platforms’ sites.
The platforms may then also see their bandwidth reduced, by 50% in the first month and 90% the second month.
Significantly, social media companies who appoint local representatives will see 75% of their fines waived and any bandwidth restored.
