Twitter, Pinterest face ad ban in Turkey under new social media law
The Turkish government issued advertising bans for Twitter, Periscope and Pinterest Tuesday when the platforms refrained from complying with a controversial social media law human rights advocates say will stifle free speech online.
ISTANBUL — The Turkish government imposed advertising bans on Twitter, its live video-streaming service Periscope and Pinterest on Tuesday over the platforms’ noncompliance with a controversial social media law human rights advocates say could stifle online free speech.
The decision, announced Tuesday, comes after the social media platforms refrained from appointing local representatives to handle government requests, as required by a social media bill passed in July 2020.
Effective since October, the law compels platforms with more than one million users to store data locally and fulfill content removal requests or face penalties, including fines and bandwidth restrictions rendering them inaccessible in Turkey. Representatives from both Twitter and Pinterest did not immediately reply to requests for comment regarding the advertising ban.
To date, Dailymotion, LinkedIn, TikTok, VKontakte and YouTube have fulfilled the law’s requirements, with Facebook agreeing Monday to appoint a local representative. Turkey’s Transport and Infrastructure Deputy Minister Omer Fatih Sayan outlined the law’s proceedings on Twitter Tuesday, saying the advertisement ban would be monitored by a number of Turkish regulators.
