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.
African countries are stepping up efforts to hold global tech companies like Meta accountable for how they handle user data. This could be a turning point for digital control on the continent.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, unveiled a free standalone artificial intelligence (AI) app for its Meta AI assistant on Tuesday, marking a significant move as part of the growing wave of new AI apps in the tech industry.
Meta is launching its first-ever AI developer conference, LlamaCon, on Tuesday, aiming to re-engage the developer community and spotlight the company’s Llama family of open AI models.
Brussels has fined Apple and Meta over €700 million combined, launching its first crackdown under the Digital Markets Act aimed at curbing big tech’s power and boosting competition in the digital economy.
Apple and Meta have been fined €500 million and €200 million respectively by the European Union for breaching the bloc’s new Digital Markets Act, escalating tensions in the transatlantic tech trade dispute.
Pope Leo XIV will be formally inaugurated on Sunday as the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics, marking a historic moment for the Church.
Perched at 5,100 meters (16,732 feet) in the Peruvian Andes, La Rinconada is the highest permanent human settlement on Earth.
Prime minister Keir Starmer says stronger ties with the EU will benefit British jobs, energy bills and border control. His comments come ahead of a summit in London where EU leaders will meet UK officials.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on May 15, with discussions reportedly focusing on upcoming peace talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegates in Istanbul.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war in Gaza will not stop until Hamas is destroyed, following the release of US-Israeli soldier Edan Alexander.
Qatar signed a landmark agreement with U.S. aerospace giant Boeing on Wednesday to acquire 160 aircraft for Qatar Airways, a deal valued at $200 billion. The signing took place in Doha during the visit of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Ukrainian and Russian delegations meet behind closed doors at Istanbul’s Dolmabahçe Palace at 10:00 local time today to explore security guarantees, territorial integrity and a possible ceasefire.
EU approves 17th Russia sanctions, blacklisting almost 200 shadow‑fleet ships, 30 evasion firms and 75 defence figures, banning missile chemicals and arming Brussels to strike Kremlin hybrid and operations.
Pope Leo XIV will be formally inaugurated on Sunday as the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics, marking a historic moment for the Church.
Perched at 5,100 meters (16,732 feet) in the Peruvian Andes, La Rinconada is the highest permanent human settlement on Earth.
Prime minister Keir Starmer says stronger ties with the EU will benefit British jobs, energy bills and border control. His comments come ahead of a summit in London where EU leaders will meet UK officials.
Pope Leo XIV will be formally inaugurated on Sunday as the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics, marking a historic moment for the Church.
Perched at 5,100 meters (16,732 feet) in the Peruvian Andes, La Rinconada is the highest permanent human settlement on Earth.
Prime minister Keir Starmer says stronger ties with the EU will benefit British jobs, energy bills and border control. His comments come ahead of a summit in London where EU leaders will meet UK officials.
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