On Thursday, October 13, the Turkish Parliament approved a tough law that allows for up to 3 years in prison for users of social networks or mass media for "spreading fakes."
This is reported by AFP.
The law provides for criminal liability for spreading false information and requires social networks and online platforms to hand over to state authorities the personal data of persons suspected of spreading misinformation. The law also enables criminal prosecution of accredited journalists or ordinary citizens who "frequently spread false information" and punishable by imprisonment for 1-3 years.
The project, introduced by President Erdogan's AKP party, was opposed by the opposition and activists. The Council of Europe emphasized that the very broad definition of disinformation in the project threatens self-censorship of the mass media, "not only in the context of the upcoming elections" - which will be held in Turkey in June 2023.
In connection with the vote, one of the young MPs of the opposition CHP demonstratively smashed his smartphone in the parliament to demonstrate that after the adoption of the law, there will be no point in using it.
In Turkey, most of the media found themselves under the control of the state or business partners of state officials after a large-scale manhunt for those disloyal to the government following the failed coup attempt in Turkey in the summer of 2016. Social networks and online media remained much less controlled until Ankara began demanding that Facebook and Twitter, under threat of heavy fines, appoint local representatives to block content at the request of a court. Erdogan argued for tough approaches by saying that Turkish society is particularly vulnerable to disinformation and that social networks have become "a source of threat to democracy."
