Turkey's Erdogan calls social media 'one of the main sources of threat to democracy'

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday described social media as one of main threats to democracy. In a video mess, Erdogan said that social media, which was described as a symbol of freedom, has turned into one of main sources of threat to democracy. His remarks come as Turkey is planning to pursue legislation to criminalise spreading fake news and disinformation online, a move that critics say would tighten restrictions on free speech. 

On Saturday, in a video mess to a government-organised communications conference in Istanbul, Erdogan said, “Social media, which was described as a symbol of freedom when it first appeared, has turned into one of main sources of threat to today’s democracy.” 

He added, “We try to protect our people, especially vulnerable sections of our society, against lies and disinformation without violating our citizens’ right to receive accurate and impartial information.”

Turkey's crackdown on 'fake news'

It is to mention that Turkey has already passed a law requiring social media platforms that have more than one million users to maintain a legal representative and store data in nation. Companies including Facebook, Youtube and Twitter have since established offices in Turkey. w, Istanbul is looking to criminalise spread of “disinformation” and “fake news” online and establish a social media regulator. 

According to AP, new legislation would make spreading of false information a punishable crime of up to five years in prison. Posts government deems as misinformation would be also removed from all social media websites. If law passes, critics have said that it would tighten restrictions on free speech and violate citizens’ rights.

Meanwhile, it is pertinent to te here that most of Turkey’s major media firms are under control of government, leaving social media as an important outlet for dissenting voices. However, it was previously reported Erdogan’s administration had earlier taken down several posts that were anti-government. Separately, Freedom House’s Freedom on Net report, published in September, had also characterised Turkey as “t free”. It ted removal of content critical of government and prosecution of people posting “undesirable” commentary on social media.  

(Im: AP)