Türkiye restricts social media usage for children under 15

Türkiye has banned children under 15 from using social media under new regulations published on Saturday. The new regulations prohibit firms from providing services to children “who have not reached the age of 15.”

Social media companies must also set up separate “differentiated” services for teenagers aged 15 to 17 with extra protections.

According to the regulations, these accounts must be private and not display to others who they follow or are following. 

There must be no syncing of contacts, no auto-play or endless scroll-style interfaces and screenshots must be blocked. 

Regulations come after legislation passed in April 

The new regulations follow social media legislation passed by the Turkish Parliament in April. 

Social media users will have to verify their age via the Turkish government’s online portal. Existing unverified accounts have until 31 March 2027 to register.

Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş, Türkiye’s Minister of Family and Social Services, said the publication of the regulations marked a “new phase,” in the government’s efforts to ensure the safety of children online.

“Platforms will be obligated to implement filtering against harmful content and settings for protective recommendation systems. Platforms' obligations will be backed by penalties,” she said in a statement on X on Saturday.

Australia became the first country in the world to ban social media for children under 16 in December 2025.

Since then multiple countries have followed suit, with countries including Azerbaijan, Canada, Kazakhstan, Malaysia and New Zealand all introducing legislation to ban children from social media platforms.

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