Meta announced it had been hit with a "substantial" fine for refusing to comply with Turkish government demands to restrict content on Facebook and Instagram.
Turkish government tried to suspend social media accounts sharing information on the widespread protests following the arrest of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s main political rival, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.
"We pushed back on requests from the Turkish government to restrict content that is clearly in the public interest, and have been fined by them as a consequence," Meta spokesperson said, declining to identify the scale of the fine.
"Government requests to restrict speech online alongside threats to shut down online services are severe and have a chilling effect on people’s ability to express themselves," Meta added in statement.
In 2024 Meta received 5,677 requests from Turkish authorities to remove content, 4,199 of which came from Türkiye's communications authority, Meta's transparency report said.
Meta heeded 40 percent of the requests, the report said.
The rights groups and journalists’ organisations also call on the Turkish government to cease pressuring online platforms to block content.
"Rather than simply accepting such blocking orders, we urge platforms to take all steps possible to limit their scope and duration, including by challenging their legality in court. Platforms should also be transparent towards affected users and the broader public about government requests for censorship and measures taken in response; and take all possible steps to maintain platform access in the event of shutdowns or throttling,"- their statement reads.
Plarform X issued a statement according to which it objected to ‘multiple court orders [...] to block over 700 accounts’, including those of news organisations, journalists, and political figures. On 26 March, X announced that they filed an individual application before the Constitutional Court challenging an order by Türkiye's Information Technologies Authority to block 126 accounts.
A planned meeting between Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, was a...
The world's largest inland body of water is experiencing an unprecedented environmental catastrophe that threatens to reshape the geopolitical and eco...
Türkiye has appointed Mehmet Gulluoglu, former head of its disaster management agency AFAD, to lead its humanitarian aid efforts in Gaza, a Foreign M...
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is facing its first lawsuits in the United Kingdom over claims that its talc-based products cause cancer, as it continues to b...
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu survived two no-confidence votes in parliament on Thursday, winning crucial backing from the Socialist Party....
Meta Platforms on Wednesday launched its first consumer-ready smart glasses with a built-in display, seeking to extend the momentum of its Ray-Ban line, one of the early consumer hits of the artificial intelligence (AI) era.
U.S. President Donald Trump will host more than two dozen technology and business leaders on Thursday for a dinner in the newly renovated White House Rose Garden, a White House official said.
Australia's internet safety regulator has criticised YouTube and Apple for failing to track or respond adequately to reports of child sexual abuse material on their platforms.
Mark Zuckerberg envisions a future where Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered glasses aren’t just cool, they’re essential. During Meta’s Q2 earnings call, he predicted that those without AI eyewear may soon face a serious "cognitive disadvantage."
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
Authorities in California have identified the dismembered body discovered in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024.
A tsunami threat was issued in Chile after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the Drake Passage on Friday. The epicenter was located 135 miles south of Puerto Williams on the north coast of Navarino Island.
The war in Ukraine has reached a strategic impasse, and it seems that the conflict will not be solved by military means. This creates a path toward one of two alternatives: either a “frozen” phase that can last indefinitely or a quest for a durable political regulation.
Türkiye has appointed Mehmet Gulluoglu, former head of its disaster management agency AFAD, to lead its humanitarian aid efforts in Gaza, a Foreign Ministry source confirmed.
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu survived two no-confidence votes in parliament on Thursday, winning crucial backing from the Socialist Party.
Thousands of mourners briefly stormed Nairobi's international airport on Thursday, interrupting a ceremony for the body of veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga, with crowds also flooding nearby roads and trying to breach parliament.
Renewed border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan have left at least 18 people dead and more than 360 injured, the United Nations has reported, amid growing calls for an urgent ceasefire to protect civilians.
A suspect has been identified in the murder of an anti-Islam campaigner in Sweden in January, the public prosecutor said on Monday.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment