Social media law talks postponed to October

Discussions on the “Draft Law on Amending the Press Law and Some Laws”, known as the social media law and prepared to combat disinformation, were postponed to October.

Parliament postponed to October as it will enter a midterm recess

According to information obtained by Diken and Short Wave from AKP sources, due to the fact that the Parliament will enter a recess on July 7, the legislative proposal negotiations have been postponed to the new legislative term. According to the initial plans, the deliberations of the bill, which was planned to be discussed in the General Assembly of the Turkish Grand National Assembly last week, were postponed to a later date. With the postponement of the talks to the new legislative period, the deliberations of the Bill on the Amendment of the Press Law and Some Laws in the General Assembly of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey were postponed until October.

Article 29 of the bill created great controversy. According to this article, sharing false information that will cause concern in the public or affect the security of the country from the social media accounts of citizens can be punished with imprisonment. Those who deliberately share false information will face a prison sentence of one to three years.

Article 29, which caused the censorship debate, is as follows:

“Anyone who publicly disseminates false information about the country’s internal and external security, public order and general health, with the motive of creating anxiety, fear or panic among the people, in a way that is suitable for disturbing the public peace, will be sentenced to imprisonment from 1 to 3 years. The penalty in question will be increased by 50 percent if it is committed in secret or within the framework of an organization’s activities.