Social Media Law Turns into ‘Media Law’

Turkey has been discussing a law that will directly affect social media users for a while. The regulation, which the government has been working on for a while, paves the way for people to be sentenced to imprisonment for their posts on social media. It is also aimed to restrict the serving of fake news with this law. Unconfirmed details of the law study reveal that the law in question may contain much more.

Abdulkadir Selvi has so far been the source of the remarkable statements about the social media law. The Hürriyet writer, who revealed a lot of information about the draft, has now made important statements again. According to Selvi’s statements, the law will include websites, television channels and newspapers in addition to social media platforms. Selvi, who used the expressions “Social media regulation to include websites, newspapers and TVs, is on the agenda,” and also made a statement about who will decide on disinformation.

“Specialized courts come to the fore”

One of the most debated issues regarding social media law was who should decide when disinformation is being made. There was some justification for this argument. Because both the public and the leading names of the industry thought that the governments could use this situation according to their own interests. Establishment of RTÜK, BTK, Presidency Communications Department or a new unit on the subject was not considered legal. According to Selvi, reconsidering this situation, the government brought the specialized courts to the fore. “Instead of establishing a new unit, the tendency for specialized courts to decide has come to the fore,” said Selvi.

Abdulkadir Selvi’s full statement on the subject is as follows;

From the very beginning of the social media regulation, the question of “who will decide whether a news is fake news and produced and shared for disinformation purposes” has been focused on. ‘Should the RTÜK, BTK, Directorate of Communications, courts decide on disinformation or should a new unit be created?’ discussion took place. In the end, there was a tendency for specialized courts to decide instead of establishing a new unit.

So far, measures have been focused on preventing disinformation on social media. In the discussions held in the commission, it was emphasized that fake news is used on websites, newspapers and TVs after being shared on social media. It was decided to work to prevent disinformation-oriented posts from being taken from social media and used on websites, TVs and newspapers. Emphasis is placed on imposing criminal sanctions in the event that disinformation-oriented news is used on websites, in print media and on TV. Expanding the social media regulation to include websites, newspapers and TV is on the agenda.