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Facebook rebuffs Turkey’s controversial social media law

Facebook told Turkish civil society members it would not comply with Ankara’s new social media law over concerns it would limit free speech rights, setting the stage for possible fines and access blocks on the platform as other social media companies consider their options.
A big logo created from pictures of Facebook users worldwide is pictured in the company's Data Center, its first outside the US on November 7, 2013 in Lulea, in Swedish Lapland. The company began construction on the facility in October 2011 and went live on June 12, 2013 and are 100% run on hydro power. AFP PHOTO/JONATHAN NACKSTRAND / AFP PHOTO / JONATHAN NACKSTRAND        (Photo credit should read JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images)

ISTANBUL — Turkish internet rights activist Yaman Akdeniz got a call from Facebook’s London office Monday in which the company’s human rights team said it would not comply with a controversial social media law passed in Ankara this summer.

The bill requires social media companies with more than 1 million daily users in Turkey to appoint representatives in the country, store user data locally and comply with state content removal requests, among other measures, by Oct. 1 or face steep fines and domestic access blocks on their platforms.

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