Regulation on age restriction on social media is in the Official Gazette
Quick Look
- The regulation prepared by the Presidency's Cyber Security Directorate prohibits social network providers from providing services to children under the age of 15.
- Age verification will be done via e-Government, and dedicated services, privacy settings and parental control tools are introduced for children over the age of 15.
- The regulation will come into force on November 1, and age verification for existing accounts will be completed by March 31, 2027.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
After increasing international regulations on children's online safety and personal data protection, Türkiye also prepared a regulation introducing age restrictions and parental control mechanisms for social networking platforms.
With the regulation prepared by the Presidency's Cyber Security Directorate, the procedures and principles regarding age verification in accessing the services offered by the social network provider, provision of differentiated services for children over the age of 15, and parental control tools were determined.
According to the regulation, the social network provider will not be able to provide services to children under the age of 15.
In providing differentiated services for children over the age of 15, the social network provider will take the necessary precautions, taking into account the best interests of the child and their physical, mental, psychological, social and emotional development needs.
Protection of personal data will be essential in age verification processes. Instead of identification, only methods that allow the age threshold to be determined will be used.
Age verification methods will be provided with a technically sound and reliable infrastructure against false statements and manipulation attempts.
Age verification will be made via e-Government
"Age verification" standards were also determined by the regulation. Accordingly, the social network provider will verify the age of the user with an "age verification token" through the e-Government Gateway during the account creation phase.
Account opening requests of children who are found to be under 15 as a result of age verification will not be approved. Those over the age of 15 will be subject to the principles of "segregated service specific to children".
In order to protect the personal data of child users over the age of 15, the social network provider will apply high-level privacy settings by default.
Child accounts within the scope of the unbundled service will be private accounts by default. These accounts will not be allowed to open live broadcasts and display personalized ads.
Children will only be able to receive messages from accounts they follow. In addition, other users will not be able to view the follower and followed lists of children's accounts.
The regulation will enter into force on November 1
The regulation also obliged social network providers to offer parental control tools.
In this context, parents will be able to control their children's account settings, limit their usage time and allow paid transactions.
With the regulation that will come into force on November 1, age verification procedures for existing accounts will need to be completed by March 31, 2027. Existing accounts of users determined to be under 15 years of age will be closed.
Open Questions
- What technical methods will be used in the age verification process?
- What features will parental control tools include?
- What will be the penalties for violating the regulations?
