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A Twitter block from 2014 in front of the Turkish flag (symbol image)
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DADO RUVIC / REUTERS
Turkey has fined Facebook, Twitter and other social networks in the millions.
The Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Ömer Fatih Sayan, announced on Twitter.
The fines go back to a new law to stricter regulation of social media in Turkey.
Specifically, according to official information, measures have been taken against providers such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Periscope, YouTube and TikTok.
A fine of 10 million Turkish lira (just under 1.2 million euros) was imposed on the platforms.
Initially, the providers could not be reached for confirmation.
The reason for the punishment was that no local representatives for Turkey had been appointed within the given period, said Infrastructure Minister Sayan.
The majority of the Turkish media are under direct or indirect control of the government, and control over content on the Internet has also been increased again and again.
Ankara regularly takes action against users for content on the Internet that is critical of the government.
A new law passed in July further tightened government controls.
Social media should be forced to install local representatives
Providers with more than a million Turkish users per day must therefore open branches in Turkey with a Turkish citizen as their representative.
Representation by a legal person is also possible.
If no representative is registered, there is a risk of penalties.
In addition to the imposition of fines, pages can be rendered virtually unusable.
The law also obliges platforms to respond to requests to delete or block certain content within 48 hours.
Minister Sayan said, according to the Turkish newspaper "Sabah", the network bandwidth of providers who "do not follow the rules" will be reduced by 90 percent.
The move would greatly slow down surfing on the affected platform and make it practically unusable.
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mrc / dpa
