Turkey to Restrict Minors' Social Media Access

Turkey is preparing to implement strict social media regulations for minors, following a parliamentary report recommending measures such as age verification, content filtering, and night-time internet restrictions. The ruling Turkey===Justice and Development Party, led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is expected to submit a draft law soon. Family and Social Services Minister Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş confirmed the bill would include a social media ban for minors and require service providers to build content-filtering systems. This initiative is driven by concerns over children's moral erosion and digital addiction, a sentiment echoed by parents like Belma Kececioglu. The move aligns Turkey with other countries like Australia, Spain, Greece, Slovenia, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany, which are also considering or implementing similar restrictions. Social media companies have warned that such bans could be undermined by weak age-verification technologies and might push children towards unregulated platforms. Turkey already has a history of heavy internet regulation, with past bans on platforms like Roblox, Discord, Wattpad, and Wikipedia, and currently bans access to 1.2 million web pages and social media posts.