A new era has begun in social media!

The regulation that imposes a 15-year age limit on social media came into force today. Age verification for new account openings will be made with the token created through the e-Government Gateway. Requests to open an account from those under the age of 15 will be rejected. Age verification for existing accounts will be mandatory until March 31, 2027.

A new era has begun in social media!

The "Regulation on the Provision of Segregated Services for Children and Age Verification by Social Network Providers", prepared by the Presidency's Cyber ​​Security Directorate and published in the Official Gazette on October 10, came into force today.

According to the regulation covering local and foreign social networks accessible from Turkey, platforms will not be able to provide services to children under the age of 15. Special rules regarding privacy, messaging and live broadcasting will apply to the accounts of children aged 15-17.

AGE VERIFICATION TOken WILL BE CREATED THROUGH E-GOVERNMENT

Article 7 of the regulation included the provision "Age verification is carried out through the e-Government Gateway". Upon the user's request, an age verification token will be created via the e-Government Gateway by the Cyber ​​Security Directorate. The user will upload this token to the platform on which he wants to open an account.

The platform will determine the age group of the user by confirming that the token was created by the Presidency through the e-Government Gateway. The token will only contain information about whether the user has reached the age of 15 or not, and if so, whether the user has reached the age of 18. Platforms will only be able to use the token for age verification purposes.

DEADLINE FOR EXISTING ACCOUNTS MARCH 31, 2027

Platforms will complete the verification process for accounts opened before the regulation came into force and whose age has not been previously verified using this method, by March 31, 2027. If it is determined that the account owner is not under 15 years of age, the platform will inform the user and close the account.

Users will be able to object to the result of age verification or the closure of their accounts free of charge. The contents and personal data in the account will not be deleted until the objection is resolved.

ACCOUNTS WILL NOT BE OPEN TO EVERYONE IN THE 15-17 AGE GROUP

The accounts of children aged 15-17 will be private. Platforms will not be able to offer the option to make these accounts public. Children will only be able to receive messages from accounts they follow. Other users will not be able to see children's follower lists and the accounts they follow. Children will not be able to open live broadcasts from these accounts. Children's personal data cannot be used to create profiles or provide personalized commercial advertising.

Parents will be able to monitor and limit the time their children spend on social media with the control tools offered by the platforms. They will be able to subject purchasing, rental and paid membership transactions to their own approval and set spending limits for these transactions.