In the report, it was emphasized that practices aimed at regulating the social media field should not adversely affect freedom of expression and democratic competition.
The report, which emphasized that the independence and impartiality of the judiciary are essential for the supervision of social media without harming fundamental rights and freedoms and democratic competition, stated that the institution planned to be established for supervision should also be independent of the execution.
DDA, of which 283 civil society organizations are members, has prepared a report which also refers to the social media regulations that are expected to be on the agenda of the Parliament in the coming days. In the report, the social media regulations in force in authoritarian regimes and democratic regimes were analyzed in detail. Social media regulations in Turkey were evaluated through this comparative analysis, and concrete suggestions for possible regulations in Turkey were listed.
Legislation in Turkey already includes very wide-ranging sanctions
The report, which also reminds us of the last social media regulation made in 2020, includes the following statements: given:
“Censorship and blocking already implemented have been further expanded with the new regulation made in July 2020. In addition to the frequently applied blocking sanction, the sanction of removing content has been added with the new regulation. Similarly, the sanction of disconnecting the content on the grounds of violation of personality rights has been added in searches made with search engines. When examined in this context, the legislation in Turkey already includes very wide-ranging sanctions.”
The judiciary should be impartial and the supervisory institution should be independent In the conclusion part of the report, it was emphasized that the relevant regulatory and supervisory institutions should be independent of the execution, and the judiciary should be autonomous and impartial so that the practices aimed at regulating the social media field do not adversely affect freedom of expression and democratic competition.
