The video streaming site has given in to pressures from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to set up an office in the country after the government threatened YouTube with a de facto ban. This move comes in line with the new social media laws that were passed in July, which requires social media providers to stick to the tough new measures or face a reduction of their internet bandwidth of as much as 90 per cent. The law also requires these companies to store user data in the country. Most social media companies refused to comply with the government’s demands to establish a presence in the country with locally appointed representatives who would be held accountable to the authorities.
YouTube announced in December 2020 that they would set up a Turkey office stating that: “We have been able to find a way forward and will commence the process of appointing a local representative legal entity in compliance with the law, without compromising our values.” The company assured users that the decision would not change how they already handle requests for content removal or how they store user data. For companies that refused to comply with the law in November and December, they were hit with heavy fines. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok were all hit with two fines reaching $4 million each for their non-compliance with the law. If they continue to not comply with the law, they face advertising bans and restrictions of their bandwidths.
Turkish cyber rights campaigner Yaman Akdeniz expressed concern and worry to the Financial Times, over how this new move could lead to the censoring and control of independent commentators and dissidents who make use of YouTube to voice their opinions because they are not allowed into the mainstream pro-government outlets. Akdeniz says: “There is no due process in Turkey. There are serious question marks about the independence of the judiciary and democratic institutions including the constitutional court. Of course, YouTube will challenge a decision that it does not agree with . . . But the challenges or the appeals that YouTube will lodge will predominantly be rejected by the courts. Therefore, the company will need to comply with those requests.”
Human Rights Watch said: YouTube’s decision “sets a dangerous precedent that makes it harder for other tech companies to refuse to appoint a local representative,” or in other countries that are following similar patterns to Turkey. YouTube’s compliance is worrying for rights to freedom of speech and expression because of the increase in the censoring of opposing and governmentally deemed undesirable voices.
It is also important to remember as Human Rights Watch pointed out, it can affect other countries who wish to seek tighter controls over social media. The same was seen with Vietnam and Facebook, who gave into the Vietnamese authorities by changing their content moderation policy in April 2020, which allowed the government to censor online content that was viewed as critical of the state. Similarly, in Thailand, anti-government protests occurred in October and the government told Thailand’s Criminal Court to block the Facebook page of a protest group, as well as news media sites that posted footage of the protests.
In the Philippines, Facebook shut down 64 fake accounts linked to the military and the police that had criticised political opposition and human rights groups. This led to outrage from the President Rodrigo Duterte, who said: “Facebook, listen to me: We allow you to operate here hoping that you could help us. If the government cannot espouse or advocate something which is for the good of the people, then what is your purpose here in my country?” The actions of one social media company in one country has serious implications for other countries and the other companies’ abilities to resist governments who seek to control and censor its population. The actions taken by YouTube in Turkey are bound to crop up again in other countries like Facebook has done in Vietnam and the Philippines, it is just a matter of which country is next.
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