By David Gauthier-Villars
ISTANBUL -- Turkey's parliament has approved new laws on social
media that give the government more power to police content on
Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and other networks, sending a chill
through the country's human-rights activists.
Backed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice and
Development Party, the legislation provides authorities with
significant ammunition against their critics. Under the new
measures, social media companies will be required to have a
permanent representative in Turkey, take steps to store Turkish
users' data in the country, and execute court orders to take down
content.
Failure to comply will expose operators to a five-step regime of
sanctions ranging from fines to being stripped of advertising
revenue and being subjected to near-complete access restrictions.
It isn't yet clear when the new measures take effect.
The scope of the legislation, passed Wednesday after a marathon
16-hour session, has alarmed opposition leaders and free-speech
advocates. They say social media has become one of the last few
spaces to express dissent after tycoons loyal to Mr. Erdogan
acquired television channels and national newspapers following a
failed coup attempt in 2016. Dozens of other outlets were closed
amid accusations they supported the plotters.
As critical voices migrated to social media, building a
significant audience, especially among youth, the government also
cracked down on dissent over the internet and social networks.
"Social media is a lifeline for many people who use it to access
news, so this law signals a new dark era of online censorship," Tom
Porteous, a director with Human Rights Watch, said.
The law was adopted less than a month after Mr. Erdogan
complained that some people had posted insults under a social media
announcement of the birth of his eighth grandchild, and vowed more
government powers to regulate the internet.
"Do you understand what it means, why we are against YouTube,
Twitter, Netflix and all those social media sites," Mr. Erdogan
said in a speech on July 1. "Turkey is not a banana republic. We
will spurn those who spurn the administrative and judicial
institutions of this country."
Twitter Inc.'s reaction will be closely watched. The platform
recently clashed with the Turkish government, saying in June that
it had permanently deleted more than 7,000 "fake and compromised"
accounts it alleged had been used as part of a
centrally-coordinated effort to "amplify political narratives
favorable to the AKP."
The Turkish presidency, which makes extensive use of Twitter to
release announcements, said the allegations were untrue. "This
arbitrary act, hidden behind the smokescreen of transparency and
freedom of expression, has demonstrated yet again that Twitter is
no mere social media company, but a propaganda machine with certain
political and ideological inclinations," Presidency Communications
Director Fahrettin Altun said in a statement.
A spokeswoman for Twitter said the company had no immediate
comment on the new law. Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google,
which operates the YouTube broadcast service, didn't immediately
respond to messages seeking comment.
Over 400,000 internet sites are blocked in Turkey, including
many news portals, and thousands of people are being prosecuted
over their social media posts, according to Yaman Akdeniz, a
professor at the Bilgi University and an internet rights expert.
According to data he has compiled, more than 90,000 investigations
and nearly 20,000 prosecutions have been launched in recent years
over alleged insults against Mr. Erdogan in his capacity as
president.
"There was already extensive internet censorship in Turkey, even
before we began talking about the new law," Mr. Akdeniz said. "So
the situation was already bad and we're moving from bad to
worse."
Adoption of the new law coincides with a drop in support for the
AKP, as Mr. Erdogan's ruling party is known in Turkish. Recent
surveys suggest it would garner about 30% of the votes if
legislative elections were called early, compared with 43% in the
July 2018 vote. Pollsters have said the surveys also point to a
growing disconnect between the party and the aspirations of younger
Turks.
Opposition politicians condemned the new measures, saying it
would limit freedom of expression. "You can't use social networks
when it serves you and appeal to prohibition when you receive
dislikes," Engin Ozkoc, a lawmaker with the Republican People's
Party, said during parliamentary debates.
Atilla Yesilada, an economist who no longer appears on
mainstream media in Turkey but broadcasts his critical views of the
government on a YouTube channel, a Twitter account and a website,
said the new attempt to control speech in the internet space would
fail.
"It is going to backfire," said Mr. Yesilada, an emerging market
consultant for GlobalSource Partners, a research and analysis
group. "People like social media and think it's the most-trusted
news source. If you try to shut it down, there will be a protest
vote."
Write to David Gauthier-Villars at
David.Gauthier-Villars@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 29, 2020 11:01 ET (15:01 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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