The parliament of Turkey has passed a law that aims to control social media platforms, which human rights groups claim to be a threat to freedom of expression.
Under the law passed by members of the parliament, social media companies with over a million users in Turkey are required to establish local offices and comply with requests to remove content.
It also states that those who refuse to comply will be fined and may have their data speeds reduced.
Controlling social media
According to Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, social media sites are "immoral" and he expressed his desire to see these platforms tightly controlled.
The bill was proposed by the ruling party AKP and its partner the MHP, which together holds a majority in the parliament. It was passed into law on Wednesday morning.
The Turkish government has been known to temporarily cut internet bandwidth to prevent its people from using social media following terror attacks.
The new law imposes cuts of up to 95% of bandwidth on non-compliant social media firms, rendering them unusable.
Violation of free speech
In Turkey, online platforms remain an important tool for expressing dissent and according to critics of the law, it will lead to more censorship. Since Tuesday, the hashtag #SansurYasasinaDurDe (Say Stop to the Censorship Law) has been trending on Twitter.
According to Amnesty International, passage of the law is "the latest, and perhaps most brazen attack on free expression in Turkey".
Amnesty International’s Turkey researcher Andrew Gardner said: "The internet law significantly increases the reach of the government to police and censor content online, exacerbating risks to those who are already ruthlessly targeted by the authorities simply for expressing dissenting opinions."
However, presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin denied this and argued that the law was intended to establish commercial and legal relationships with the social media platforms.
US Congress and tech companies
Meanwhile, the US Congress have been conducting investigations for over a year into four major tech companies, namely Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. The purpose of the probes is to determine whether these firms have abused their power and dominance in the online marketplace.
The chief executive officers (CEOs) were scheduled to testify in a virtual hearing using Cisco's WebEx conferencing platform.
The questions revolve around documents and other evidence gathered throughout the 13-month probe. Amazon is being investigated for its use of seller data while Apple is being scrutinized over its app store policies.
In Europe, antitrust investigations are currently being conducted by EU regulators into Apple’s App Store and Apple Pay system, following complaints by Spotify and Rakuten.
The first investigation will delve into the streaming companies’ claim that Apple is violating EU competition rules by requiring the use of its in-app purchase system to access music and books.
The second probe will focus on the impact of Apple’s conduct on competition in mobile payments via its Apple Pay system.
Meanwhile, the lawmakers are looking into Facebook for its acquisition strategy and its dominance in online advertising while Google is being probed for its own practices in search and advertising.
