Twitter to establish legal entity in response to Turkey's controversial internet law

Twitter Inc., on March 19, said that it would establish a legal entity in Turkey in order to continue operating in the country which previously passed a law mandating the same. In a blog post, the Jack Dorsey led social media giant stressed it had “closely reviewed” the controversial Internet Law No. 5651. However, stressing that it was committed to defending open and public conversation, and threatened it’s services might get jeopardised by the law, it has decided to station a legal representative in the transcontinental country. 

“In our continuing effort to provide our service in Turkey, we have closely reviewed the recently amended Internet Law No. 5651. To ensure that Twitter remains available for all who use it in Turkey, we have decided to establish a legal entity,” it said. 

"Twitter was founded on freedom of expression, and we respect people’s universal right to express their views online. We have a designated human rights function at Twitter and hold our processes, product, and policies accountable — we have and will, as always, enforce our rules impartially and judiciously," the blog concluded. 

What is law No. 5651?

In January 2020, the Erdogan administration slapped advertising bans on Twitter, Periscope and Pinterest by amending the Internet Law of Turkey (2007). As per the new regulation, any social media giant who wants to operate in the country needs to have a legal representative stationed to address consumer complaints. Companies with more than 1 million users that refuse to designate an official representative are subjected to fines, followed by advertising bans. The next penalty would be bandwidth reductions that would make their platforms too slow to use.

This comes as various countries are imposing a clampdown on social media giants. Earlier this year, Australian passed News Media Bargaining Code, requiring Facebook to pay to the news outlets. Pertaining to the same, Facebook on February 18, began preventing Australian news sites from posting while also stopping Australian users from sharing or viewing content from news outlets. Additionally, it also banned various key government accounts leading to a rage across the country.