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Greece is preparing to ban under-15s from social media. [Louisa Gouliamaki\/Reuters]<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Turkish lawmakers passed a bill late Wednesday that includes restricting access to social media platforms for children under 15, state media reported.<\/p>\n
The legislation is the latest in a global trend to protect young people from dangerous online activity.<\/p>\n
Its passage comes a week after a 14-year-old boy killed nine students and a teacher at a middle school in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey, in a gun attack. Police are investigating the online activity of the perpetrator, who also died, in a bid to uncover his motivation for the attack.<\/p>\n
The bill will force social media platforms to install age\u2011verification systems, provide parental control tools and require companies to rapidly respond to content deemed harmful, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.<\/p>\n
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan must now accept the bill within 15 days for it to pass into law. He spoke in the wake of the Kahramanmaras killings of the need for to mitigate the online risks to children\u2019s safety and privacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are living in a period where some digital sharing applications are corrupting our children\u2019s minds and social media platforms have, to put it bluntly, become cesspools,\u201d he said in a televised address Monday.<\/p>\n
The main opposition party \u2013 the Republican People\u2019s Party, or CHP \u2013 has criticized the proposal, saying children should be protected \u201cnot with bans but with rights-based policies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under the law, digital platforms \u2013 such as YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and others \u2013 would have to block children under 15 from opening accounts and introduce parental controls that would manage children\u2019s access.<\/p>\n
Online game companies will also be required to appoint a representative in Turkey to ensure they abide by the new regulations. Potential penalties include internet bandwidth reductions and fines imposed by Turkey\u2019s communications watchdog.<\/p>\n
The Turkish government has a recent record of restricting online platforms as they have grown as a means of expressing dissent. Online communications were widely restricted during last year\u2019s protests in support of Istanbul\u2019s jailed opposition mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu.<\/p>\n
Restrictions on social media access for children under 16 first began in December in Australia, where social media companies revoked access to about 4.7 million accounts identified as belonging to children.<\/p>\n
Last month, Indonesia began implementing a new government regulation banning children younger than 16 from access to digital platforms that could expose them to pornography, cyberbullying, online scams and addiction.<\/p>\n
Some other countries \u2013 including Spain, France and the United Kingdom \u2013 are also taking or considering measures to restrict children\u2019s access to social media amid growing concern that they are being harmed by exposure to unregulated social media content. [AP]<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n