CHP's Günaydın points to the danger behind the 'social media ban': An attempt to impose access restrictions on the entire internet

In his speech against the Bill on Amendments to the Social Services Law and Certain Other Laws, Günaydın said, "You are trying to introduce new bandwidth throttling and access restrictions to the entire internet environment under the pretext of protecting children, and you are trying to introduce profiling to the internet environment, again using children as an excuse.

We know you; we know your track record in this area.

For this reason, we will vote against this law due to these regulations, and we will do everything in our power to have it annulled," he said.

CHP's Günaydın listed his criticisms regarding the articles of the bill as follows:

"We have completed the deliberations on the Bill on Amendments to the Social Services Law No. 263 and Certain Other Laws. This law has two separate headings and sections; the first is regulations regarding social services, and the second is regulations on the internet and gaming. Now, which committee did this pass through in this Parliament? It passed through the Health Committee. Which ministry do our esteemed bureaucrat friends sitting in these rows come from? They come from the Ministry of Family and Social Services. So, I ask: You are signing off on very important internet regulations; is the Health Committee really the right committee for these internet regulations to be evaluated in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey? I am not saying this to upset our friends, but outside of general knowledge, do the bureaucrat friends sitting here have any knowledge about the internet, gaming, and such regulations? When will you stop putting everything into an omnibus bill? Is it that hard, my brother, to draft a regulation in a comprehensive manner within itself and then handle the other regulation with expert committees and expert bureaucrats? You have been in power for twenty-three years; what can be expected from a government that cannot even manage this, my brother? I mean, let me tell you, increasing the duration of maternity leave... You are late. The duration of maternity leave will already increase, the child will be born, and the mother will establish a bond. Are you going to boast now that we are increasing those leave durations? We have always said that there should be more.

"Did you bring a regulation here that bans virtual betting and gambling?"

Increasing the payment periods for temporary incapacity benefits is beneficial in terms of preventing the grievances of female workers. Why are you twenty-three years late, my brother? Give an account of this. You are increasing the five-day leave period for fathers to ten days in 2026. You are boasting about this, right? Is the mother not the owner of that child, and is the father not the owner, the parent of that child? Is this what you will boast about after twenty-three years? Internet and gaming regulations: What should have been done? What is missing? Between 2018 and 2026, 4 separate committees were established in this Parliament, and thousands of pages of reports were prepared. Did you include a single sentence from these reports in this law? Do you have any legislative memory at all? Why do those committees meet? Why are those reports written? There is not a single sentence here. You are introducing a 15-year age limit with the proposal. Well, wouldn't it be more accurate to introduce 4 separate age limits—6, 12, 15, and 18—and have companies label content accordingly, have it supervised by the public, and ensure access to gaming and social media content based on these age groups? Let's come to something else: Virtual betting and gambling are scorching Turkey, scorching it; children and families are being destroyed by virtual betting and gambling. Did you bring a regulation here that bans virtual betting and gambling? Where is the internet regulation? If you are not even going to bring this, what are you going to bring, my brother?

"We will vote against it"

You did not assign duties to public institutions against digital addiction, you did not allocate funds for this, you did not write mandates; therefore, it is hollow in this sense. You are trying to introduce new bandwidth throttling and access restrictions to the entire internet environment under the pretext of protecting children, and you are trying to introduce profiling to the internet environment, again using children as an excuse. We know you; we know your track record in this area. For this reason, we will vote against this law due to these regulations, and we will do everything in our power to have it annulled."