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.
Britain has imposed new sanctions on Russia, targeting the entire GRU military intelligence agency, which was highlighted in a UK public inquiry into ...
Afghanistan’s foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, has said distanced the Afghan government from recent incidents involving Afghan nationals on U.S....
The United States and Central Asian countries have expressed interest inn new opportunities arising from the Trump Route for International Peace and P...
A former Apple engineer has unveiled a new Chinese chip designed to compete directly with Apple’s Vision Pro headset....
Russia has warned that any "illegal action" by the European Union regarding its frozen assets will provoke "the harshest reaction," with Moscow alread...
Australia will become the first country to ban social media accounts for users under 16 starting 10 December, with regulators tracking “migratory patterns” to stop teens shifting to other platforms, Communications Minister Anika Wells said on Wednesday (3 December).
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.
Chinese scientists have unveiled a new gene-editing therapy that they say could lead to a functional cure for HIV, making it one of the most promising developments in decades of global research.
For nearly three decades following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the international system was defined by a singular, overwhelming reality: American unipolarity.
As the year comes to an end, a new initiative bringing civil society actors and regional analysts from Armenia and Azerbaijan together is steadily gaining ground.
Uzbekistan has reopened its border with Afghanistan for the first time since 2021, the country’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry announced on Tuesday.
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has introduced its newest model, DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale, claiming it can perform some tasks as well as the latest models from Google DeepMind and OpenAI.
Britain has imposed new sanctions on Russia, targeting the entire GRU military intelligence agency, which was highlighted in a UK public inquiry into the 2018 poisoning death of Dawn Sturgess, caused by the nerve agent Novichok.
Afghanistan’s foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, has said distanced the Afghan government from recent incidents involving Afghan nationals on U.S. soil.
Russia has warned that any "illegal action" by the European Union regarding its frozen assets will provoke "the harshest reaction," with Moscow already preparing its response.
Families of 153 Chinese passengers aboard the missing MH370 flight are once again hopeful as a fresh search for the plane is announced.
Residents of Darfur are being systematically held for ransom by the Sudanese paramilitary force that overran a city in late October, with witnesses, aid workers, and researchers reporting killings and beatings of those whose families cannot pay.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment