YouTube to open a representative in Turkey

YouTube has announced that it will “set up a legal entity in Turkey to serve as a local representative, providing a local point of contact for the government,” in compliance with Turkey's social media law.

İstanbul

YouTube to open a representative in Turkey

* Photo: pxhere.com

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

In a written statement released on its blog, YouTube has announced that it will set up a local representative in Turkey.

"Over the past few months, we have been thoroughly analysing Turkey's recently amended Internet Law No. 5651," the statement of the company has read, adding that "YouTube respects the laws and regulations in the countries where it operates, while maintaining its commitments to freedom of expression, access to information, and transparency."

Accordingly, YouTube has announced that it will "set up a legal entity in Turkey to serve as a local representative, providing a local point of contact for the government" in compliance with Turkey's social media law.

The platform has shared its decision briefly as follows:

'We have been able to find a way'

"Over the past few months, we have been thoroughly analysing Turkey's recently amended Internet Law No. 5651, which provides new requirements for social media platforms such as appointing a local representative, complying with removal and response turnaround times and publishing semi-annual transparency reports.

"YouTube respects the laws and regulations in the countries where we operate, while maintaining our commitments to freedom of expression, access to information, and transparency.

"We have been able to find a way forward and will commence the process of appointing a local representative legal entity in compliance with the law, without compromising our values.

'YouTube will set up a legal entity'

"YouTube will set up a legal entity in Turkey to serve as a local representative, providing a local point of contact for the government. This step toward compliance will not change how YouTube reviews content removal requests, nor will it change how YouTube handles or holds user data. Currently, we review government removal requests when notified through the correct legal processes and disclose these requests in our transparency report, in keeping with our stance on transparency.

"We will continue to evaluate these requests against the law and our own policies, maintaining the processes we have in place. We remain committed to our Turkish users, creators and business partners, and will continue to preserve the platform's vibrance and openness."

CLICK - New law requiring social media companies to open an office in Turkey comes into force

About the social media law

According to a new social media law that came into effect in Turkey as of October 1, 2020, social media platforms and companies such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Periscope, Linkedin, Dailymotion and TikTok have to appoint a legal representative in Turkey.

After the first 30-day period to appoint their representatives, authorities fined social media platforms 10 million Turkish liras (~1.2 million dollars) in November After the second 30-day term, the penalty rose to 30 million Turkish liras.

If companies still do not comply with the requirement by 90 days, Turkish advertisers will be banned from their sites.

Three months after the advertising ban, authorities will be able to reduce the internet bandwidth of these platforms by 50 percent first and then 90 percent after another month of non-compliance.

If the social media giants appoint local representatives, 75 percent of the fine will be waived and their bandwidth restored.

As part of the law, social media firms are obliged to answer requests from Turkey in Turkish. They must respond to requests on personal and privacy rights within 48 hours. The representative to be appointed by the companies should be a citizen of Turkey or a legal entity based in Turkey.

The platforms are also required to publish semi-annual reports for showing request statistics on personal and privacy rights.

Social networks that do not remove illegal content within 24 hours despite a court verdict will be held responsible. In addition, social media companies should take necessary measures to host Turkey-based users' data in Turkey.

(HA/SD)