Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has vowed to regulate immoral acts on social media.
Erdogan announced government control over social media following alleged insults directed at his daughter and son-in-law when they announced the birth of their fourth child on Twitter.
Addressing his party’s provincial leaders via a conference call on Wednesday July 1, 2020, Erdogan threatened new legislation by the year’s end to stringently regulate “immoral” social media.
“Do you understand why we are against social media such as YouTube, Twitter and Netflix? To eradicate such immorality,” Erdogan said.
He said his government was determined to introduce legislation that would force social media companies to establish a legal presence in Turkey.
The move would mean they could be held financially accountable and forced to respond to Turkish court decisions.
Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, who is married to Erdogan’s daughter Esra, announced the birth of their fourth child, Hamza Salih, on Twitter in Tuesday.
The announcement was followed by insulting messages questioning the paternity.
Erdogan said investigations were under way against those who “attacked” his family by “abusing a newborn”.
“We will keep chasing these cowards who attack a family and the values they believe represented by them through a baby,” Erdogan said.
