Pinterest to appoint local rep to Turkey under new social media law

Social media platform Pinterest has agreed to appoint a local representative to Turkey in compliance with a controversial new law in the country. The new legislation not only places social media platforms under Turkey's jurisdiction, but also mandates that the platforms respond to requests from the government.

Friday April 09 2021 02:07 pm

Anadolu Agency / Duvar English

Image-sharing-based social media network Pinterest agreed to appoint a local representative in the country, Turkey’s Transportation and Infrastructure Ministry said on April 9.

“Thus, there is no social network provider from abroad, whose daily reach is more than 1 million in our country, which has failed to notify that they will be appointing a representative in our country," Deputy Minister Ömer Fatih Sayan said on Twitter.

A new and controversial social media law came into effect on Oct. 1, 2020 in Turkey, mandating that all large social media platforms hire local representatives, which would place them under the jurisdiction of Turkish law.

Last year, Turkey imposed a 40 million Turkish liras ($5.43 million) fine each on several social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for not complying with the law.

Facebook, VKontakte (VK), YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, Dailymotion, and Twitter have decided to assign local representatives.

Under the law, social media firms are obliged to answer requests from Turkey in Turkish. They must respond to requests on personal and privacy rights within 48 hours.

The platforms are also required to publish semi-annual reports to show request statistics on personal and privacy rights.

Social networks that do not remove illegal content within 24 hours despite a court verdict will be fined, the law mandates, and that social media companies must take necessary measures to host Turkish-based users' data in Turkey.