Erdogan vows to tighten social media controls after insults on family
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he will to introduce new measures to hold social media platforms accountable after his family members were insulted online.
ISTANBUL — Social media companies are once again facing the prospect of state regulation in Turkey, and this time digital rights advocates believe lawmakers will follow through on threats to impose tighter controls on the platforms.
In a televised speech Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced his party would introduce legislation requiring social media companies to establish a legal presence in the country, where they would need to abide by Turkish laws and domestic court decisions.
The news comes after Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak and his wife Esra Albayrak, the president’s daughter, announced the birth of their fourth child in a Tuesday tweet that was met with a slew of insults online.
Turkey’s Interior Ministry has since launched an investigation into the incident, detaining a number of account holders for “insulting a public official,” a crime carrying a minimum one-year sentence in Turkey.
