Turkey’s parliament began debate Tuesday on a draft law package that would tighten rules on children’s access to social media, in a move that Turkish officials say is meant to reduce risks to minors’ safety and privacy. Lawmakers opened the discussion on the bill as Turkey’s government joins other countries seeking measures to curb what they describe as dangerous or harmful online activity for younger users.
The AP account said the bill would apply to social media platforms and would limit access for children under 15 if the law passes. Under the proposal, social media companies would have to install age-verification systems, provide parental control tools, and block children under 15 from opening accounts. It would also require digital platforms to respond rapidly to content that authorities deem harmful.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has argued the proposal is aimed at protecting children’s safety and privacy, according to the AP report. Mahinur Ozdemir Goktas, Turkey’s minister for family and social services, was quoted by AP earlier this year saying, “Protecting our children from all kinds of risks, threats and harmful content is our top priority,” as the government framed the regulation as child-focused rather than punitive.
The AP report also said the draft would require online game companies to appoint a representative in Turkey so they could comply with the new regulations. The proposal’s potential penalties include restrictions such as reduced internet bandwidth and fines imposed by Turkey’s communications watchdog.
As debate begins, the main opposition party has criticized the government plan. The AP report said the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, argued children should be protected “not with bans but with rights-based policies,” challenging the notion that restrictions on access are the most appropriate approach.
The AP report said it was unclear how long the parliament debate would last. The bill arrives after the Turkish government’s previous moves to limit online platforms as a means of expressing dissent, including widely restricting online communications during last year’s protests in support of Istanbul’s jailed opposition mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu.
Turkey is not the only country pursuing tighter controls on children’s social media access. The AP report said restrictions for children began in December in Australia, where social media companies revoked access to about 4.7 million accounts identified as belonging to children, and that Indonesia began implementing a regulation last month that bans children younger than 16 from digital platforms that could expose them to pornography, cyberbullying, online scams and addiction. The AP report also said countries including Spain, France and the United Kingdom have taken or considered similar steps amid concerns that children may be harmed by exposure to unregulated social media content.