Erdogan warns of regulation to crack down on ‘immoral’ social media

Turkey’s President, Recep Erdogan, on Wednesday threatened new legislation to stringently regulate immoral social media after the announcement of his grandson’s birth was slandered on Twitter.

“Do you now understand why we are against social media such as YouTube, Twitter and Netflix?. It is because of its negativity which must be eradicated.

“Legislation will be introduced in parliament as soon as possible to control such platform. Investigations are under way against those who attacked his family by abusing a newborn,” Erdogan said.

Earlier, the Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, who is married to Erdogan’s daughter Esra, announced the birth of their fourth child, Hamza Salih, on Twitter. It was, however, followed by insulting messages questioning the paternity.

Erdogan called social media centres of depravity and a source of lies, slander, attacks on personal rights and character assassinations.

He, however, blamed global companies headquartered in Western nations for turning a blind eye to violations in Turkey.

“We can’t accept that 83 million Turkish citizens have their hands tied against social media terror while Americans, Europeans, Chinese have such legal means,” Erdogan said.

Ankara regularly clamps down on dissent, most recently on posts about its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

It targets opposition politicians, journalists, academics and lawyers with judicial proceedings for expressing their opinions online.

Earlier, Erdogan faced serious dislikes on YouTube while addressing youth before their examinations.