Pinterest agrees to hire local representative in Turkey

In line with a new social media law in Turkey, image-sharing network Pinterest has agreed to appoint a local representative in the country, Turkey’s deputy transport and infrastructure minister said on Friday.

“Thus, there is no social network provider from abroad, whose daily reach is more than 1 million in our country, which has failed to notify that they will be appointing a representative in our country," Omer Fatih Sayan said on Twitter.

With these developments, the rights of Turkish citizen will be protected more efficiently, Sayan said.

Turkey's new social media law came into effect on Oct. 1, 2020, obliging social media platforms accessed over 1 million times per day in the country to hire local representatives.

Last year, Turkey imposed a 40 million Turkish liras ($5.43 million) fine each on several social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for not complying with the law.

Facebook, VKontakte (VK), YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, Dailymotion, and Twitter have decided to assign local representatives.


- Social media law

Under the law, social media firms are obliged to answer requests from Turkey in Turkish. They must respond to requests on personal and privacy rights within 48 hours.

The platforms are also required to publish semi-annual reports to show request statistics on personal and privacy rights.

Social networks that do not remove illegal content within 24 hours despite a court verdict will be held responsible.

In addition, social media companies must take necessary measures to host Turkish-based users' data in Turkey.