CHP files annulment application with the Constitutional Court regarding social media regulation: We call it a 'soup', you call it a 'grab-bag'

Günaydın stated, "Under the guise of introducing a regulation for the internet sphere and providing a protective shield for children, it actually imposes bandwidth throttling of up to 90 percent for social media and up to 50 percent for gaming sites. The issue of content removal and access blocking is being facilitated. Thus, the freedom space of social media is being further restricted. While children should be approached with age brackets such as 6, 12, 15, and 18, a single 15-year-old threshold is being introduced, and children under 15 are being banned from accessing social media. To ensure this, a facial recognition system is being introduced. We have taken this law, which introduces such rigid and abuse-prone regulations, to the Constitutional Court for both its annulment and the suspension of its execution."

Gökhan Günaydın made a statement to journalists after submitting the application petition to the Constitutional Court. Regarding the grounds for the application, Günaydın said:

"We call it a 'soup', you call it a 'grab-bag'"

"This is a law regarding amendments to the Social Insurance Law. However, it contains provisions on internet and gaming regulations, transportation policies, and regulations concerning foster families and children in need of care. We call it a 'soup', you call it a 'grab-bag'."

In the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, these regulations, a portion of which concerns the internet and gaming, were discussed in the Health Committee instead of the Digital Media Committee. It was not handled as a special regulation, and despite all the objections of our fellow deputies who are members of the committee, it was not referred to the Digital Media Committee. Why did we request this? Because this is a highly important field of expertise that requires special knowledge and has international, global repercussions. In contrast, it was brought to the TBMM and passed with the contributions of bureaucrats from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Family and Social Services. This is already an absurd situation in itself.

"Rigid and open to abuse"

Under the guise of introducing a regulation for the internet sphere and providing a protective shield for children, it actually imposes bandwidth throttling of up to 90 percent for social media and up to 50 percent for gaming sites. The issue of content removal and access blocking is being facilitated. Thus, the freedom space of social media is being further restricted. While children should be approached with age brackets such as 6, 12, 15, and 18, a single 15-year-old threshold is being introduced, and children under 15 are being banned from accessing social media. To ensure this, a facial recognition system is being introduced. We have taken this law, which introduces such rigid and abuse-prone regulations, to the Constitutional Court for both its annulment and the suspension of its execution."

"We expect them to at least issue a suspension decision here"

Noting that the other issue they are objecting to concerns citizens who benefit from free or discounted public bus services, Günaydın said:

"The central government provides a contribution to local governments within this framework. It leaves the scope, quality, and quantity of this contribution to the ministry. Are there not hundreds of examples in this country of ministries using these powers arbitrarily? However, there should be a legal criterion, and these legal criteria should be set forth. Another issue is that economic and social support for children in need of care and foster families is again left to the discretion of the ministry, left open to arbitrary control. Finally, our children who are in need of care and living in dormitories will only be able to start working in the public sector after an exam, even if they graduate from university. Therefore, many of our children will no longer be able to enter the public sector. Moreover, since we know very well in this country how these exams are conducted, this will be another source of discrimination and arbitrariness. As you can see, within this 'grab-bag' law, there are numerous regulations—from our children to families, from freedom of expression to local governments—that ignore and violate the principle of legal certainty. We express that we expect the Constitutional Court to at least reconsider and issue a stay of execution decision here, which it has not done for 13 years."

News Source: 12punto