Vetted by NeuralPress's Multi-Agent Verifier for strict factual validity and event relevance. Our compliance engine cross-checks and filters search results to ensure zero false correlations or misleading content.
Primary Sources
Turkiye passes bill restricting social media access for children under 15
Turkish lawmakers passed a bill late Wednesday that includes restricting access to social media platforms for children under 15, state media reported. The legislation is the latest in a global trend to protect young people from dangerous online activity. Its passage comes a week after a 14-year-old boy killed nine students and a teacher at a middle school in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkiye, in a gun attack. Police are investigating the online activity of the perpetrator, who also died, in a bid to uncover his motivation for the attack. The bill will force social media platforms to install age-verification systems, provide parental control tools and require companies to rapidly respond to content deemed harmful, the state-run Anadolu news agency said. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan must now accept the bill within 15 days for it to pass into law. He spoke in the wake of the Kahramanmaras killings of the need for to mitigate the online risks to children's safety and privacy.Also Read "We are living in a period where some digital sharing applications are corrupting our children's minds and social media platforms have, to put it bluntly, become cesspools," he said in a televised address Monday. The main opposition party - the Republican People's Party, or CHP - has criticized the proposal, saying children should be protected "not with bans but with rights-based policies." Under the law, digital platforms - such as YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and others - would have to block children under 15 from opening accounts and introduce parental controls that would manage children's access. Online game companies will also be required to appoint a representative in Turkiye to ensure they abide by the new regulations. Potential penalties include internet bandwidth reductions and fines imposed by Turkiye's communications watchdog. The Turkish government has a recent record of restricting online platforms as they have grown as a means of expressing dissent. Online communications were widely restricted during last year's protests in support of Istanbul's jailed opposition mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu. Restrictions on social media access for children under 16 first began in December in Australia, where social media companies revoked access to about 4.7 million accounts identified as belonging to children. Last month, Indonesia began implementing a new government regulation banning children younger than 16 from access to digital platforms that could expose t...
Türkiye rallies int'l community for protection of children in digital ...
The Ministry of Family and Social Services will host a two-day summit starting on Tuesday for the protection of children in the digital world. Representatives from 17 countries, including 11 ministers, will attend the event in Ankara, which first lady Emine Erdoğan will also participate in. The summit aims to discuss joint steps for digital security for children and global cooperation on the matter. The ministry said in a statement that it would collaborate with UNICEF and the United Nations Office of the Special Representative on Violence against Children for the summit. Along with ministers, ambassadors from 30 countries and representatives of international tech companies will attend the summit. Emine Erdoğan and Minister of Family and Social Services Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş are expected to address the first session of the summit. Other speakers include Shakhnoza Shavkatovna Mirziyoyeva, First Deputy Director of Uzbekistan’s National Agency for Social Protection, Regina De Dominicis, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia and Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid, U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Violence against Children. The ministry said dignitaries from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, South Africa, Ghana and Egypt, along with lawmakers from Turkish parliament’s Digital Platforms Committee, will participate in technical panels where prevention policies for protecting children in digital environments and digital literacy will be addressed. In sessions discussing responsible technology governance and global practices, representatives from global tech giants such as Microsoft, Meta, and Google will share their views alongside representatives from Türkiye’s Presidency of Communications, the Cybersecurity Presidency, the Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK), and the Turkish Technology Team Foundation (T3 Foundation). Furthermore, a special session will be organized where children and youth from various countries will share their digital experiences and offer solution proposals. Within the scope of the summit, Türkiye's "Action Plan for the Empowerment of Children in the Digital World (2026-2030)," prepared to protect children from digital risks, will be shared with participating countries. Solutions developed against digital risks and for safe online behavior through the Ministry's instant notification mechanisms, available via website and mobile app, will be presented as a model application. Legal regulation studies for...
Türkiye restricts social media for children in landmark move
A bill on restricting access to social media platforms was passed by Turkish lawmakers late Wednesday after long deliberations. The bill bans children under the age of 15 from ...
Turkish Parliament Passes Bill to Restrict Social Media Access for ...
Turkish lawmakers passed a bill late Wednesday that includes restricting access to social media platforms for children under 15, state media reported. The legislation is the latest in a global trend to protect young people from dangerous online activity. Its passage comes a week after a 14-year-old boy killed nine students and a teacher at a middle school in Kahramanmaras, southern Türkiye ...
