Thread by @cyberrights

Turkey's new social media platforms related legal provisions come into effect today and today is the last day for the likes of Twitter and Facebook to appoint Turkish based representatives in Turkey. So, let's recap thew whole situation in this thread.

According to our EngelliWeb 2019 report access to 408.494 websites was blocked from Turkey by the end of 2019. Access to a total of 61.049 websites and domain names was blocked only in 2019. See engelliweb.ifade.org.tr

Furthermore, 130.000 URLs, 7.000 Twitter accounts, 40.000 tweets, 10.000 YouTube videos, and 6.200 Facebook content were also blocked subject to Law No. 5651 and other legal provisions by the end of 2019.

In addition to these, nearly 50.000 content (URLs) were removed by content providers subject to access-blocking orders by the end of 2019.

The judges issue approximately 12.000 blocking and removal decisions every single year and this is the environment the likes of @Facebook @OversightBoard and Twitter @Policy is now required and expected to come and work. Let's assess the current situation and the requirements.

The likes of Facebook are aware of the risks of coming to Turkey

Basically no social media platform so far made an announcement whether they will come to Turkey or not. Today (1st of October) is the last day for the social media platform operators to appoint Turkish-based representatives in Turkey.

During the month of October two things will happen: 1. The Telecom Authority will issue a warning to social media platforms who did not communicate who their representatives are in Turkey 2. Telecom Authority will publish the Regulations related to the new legal provisions.

If the social media providers do not obey the warning, they will then face 10M TRY (1.300.000 USD / 1.102.500 EUR) administrative fines during November 2021. An additional 30M TRY fine (4.000.000 USD / 3.300.000 EUR) will be imposed during December 2021.

During January 2021, the Turkish authorities will impose an "advertisement ban" on social media platforms if they are still not in Turkey. This will mean no one will be able to advertise on these platforms from Turkey. The intention is to "put more pressure" on these companies.

This is not the end as the more serious penalties will start to kick in April 2021. During April, if the social media platforms are still not in Turkey, they will face serious bandwith throttling towards their servers. The intention will be to cripple access to their services

In April 2021, the social media platforms will face up to 50% bandwith throttling and during May 2021, the bandwith throttling will go up to 90% if they still have no legal presence in Turkey.

So far, I described what happens if the likes of Twitter and Facebook do not come to Turkey. I will now explain what happens if they do decide to come to Turkey as the future is grim.

If the social media platforms decide to come to Turkey they then risk of becoming the long arm of the Turkish judiciary for the following reasons.

1. They will be compelled to comply with every single blocking and removal decision they receive. Otherwise, they will be held liable for the content that they did not block or remove. This will expose them to hundreds of civil court cases involving defamation at the very least.

2. They will be required to respond to every single user request involving complaints and if they comply with such requests, then they will be accused of privatized censorship in the absence of due process.

3. This will result with users whose content have been removed with taking legal action against the social media platforms. Basically, the likes of Twitter and Facebook will be bombarded with hundreds of lawsuits in a "very litigious country" such as Turkey. There is no doubt

4. The likes of Twitter will probably challenge most of the judge issued decisions that they will receive. However, almost all appeals are rejected by the same level peace judges and applications to the Constitutional Court takes on average 5 years to decide.

5. Still, despite the violation decisions of the Constitutional Court, the peace judges continue to ignore and disregard the decisions as in the case of Sendika.org.

6. Sendika.org was blocked in 2015, the Constitutional Court decided in February 2020 that press freedom was violated. However, after 7 months the Judge who issued the original blocking decision is yet to remove the blocking decision!

7. As if that is not enough, Sendika.Org was blocked for the 63rd time before even it was available again despite the Constitutional Court's decision

So, in the absence of due process, the likes of Twitter and Facebook risk becoming the long arm of the Turkish judiciary system if they decide to come to Turkey.

The Telecom Authority's bylaws related to the social media platform providers were published today on the Official Gazette. There is nothing in the bylaws to improve the liability regime for the likes of Twitter and Facebook. So, do not come to Turkey message remains.