Ban on social media for under-15s takes effect in Official Gazette

A regulation governing the age limit of 15 on social media has been prepared by the Presidential Cybersecurity Authority and published in the Official Gazette. According to the regulation, social network providers will not be permitted to provide services to children under the age of 15 under any circumstances.

Age verification will be conducted through the e-Government Portal using an "age verification token" method. Platforms are required to confirm users' age status through this system during the account creation stage. The regulation mandates the use of methods that determine only the age threshold rather than identity verification, thereby establishing personal data protection as a principle.

Users between the ages of 15 and 18 will be provided with differentiated services; platforms are required to take additional measures for this group that account for the child's physical, mental, and emotional development. Parental control tools are also expected to become mandatory within this framework.

Following Australia's 16-year-age limit implementation, Turkey has become one of the countries adopting the strictest age threshold for regulating children's social media use. Under the previously existing regulation, platforms were only obligated to perform age control based on their own declarations; with the new regulation, oversight has been directly tied to state infrastructure.