On 4 November 2020, according to the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK), social network providers including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Periscope and TikTok were fined 10 million Turkish liras ($1.18 million) as a result of failing to designate a representative.
The social media regulation, the law no. 7253 was published in the Official Gazette dated 30 July 2020, amending the Law no. 5651 on the Regulation of Broadcasts via the Internet and the Prevention of Crimes Committed Through such Broadcasts.
With this amendment, the social network providers who are located outside of Turkey and have more than 1 million daily access to their services from Turkey became obliged to appoint at least one representative in Turkey. This representative is required to be a legal person residing in Turkey or a Turkish citizen and shall be responsible for dealing with the communications sent by the authorities and responding to the applications filed by individuals. Articles regulating the designation of a representative entered into force on 1 October 2020.
According to the law, if these providers shall not appoint a representative in the next 30- day period, an additional fine up to 30 million Turkish liras (around $3.6 million) will be imposed. After the completion of the 60-day period, if social network providers shall continue to neglect the obligation, ads will be banned from Turkish companies. Three months after the advertising ban, authorities will be able to reduce the internet bandwidth of these providers at first by 50%, and 90% after one month. If the social media giants appoint local representatives, 75% of the fine will be waived off and the bandwidth reduction will end
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