ISTANBUL — Turkey’s parliament passes a controversial bill giving the government greater control of social media, a move criticized by human rights advocates as an attempt to increase online censorship.
Under the new law, social media giants such as Facebook and Twitter have to ensure that they have local representatives in Turkey and to comply with court orders over the removal of certain content or face heavy fines.
The legislation targets social networks with more than a million unique visits every day and says servers with Turkish users’ data on them must be sited locally.
If companies refuse to comply, they will face fines and restrictions making the platform unusable.
The bill was submitted by the ruling AKP and its nationalist partner the MHP, which have a majority in parliament, and passed after a night-long marathon.
— AFP
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