Turkish Members of Parliament have passed a bill that includes restricting access to social media platforms for children under 15.

The legislation is the latest in a global trend aimed at protecting young people from dangerous online activity, following in the footsteps of Australia, which introduced landmark restrictions on social media use last year.

According to state media, the bill would force social media platforms to install age‑verification systems, provide parental control tools and require companies to rapidly respond to content deemed harmful.

Under the law, digital platforms, such as YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, would have to block children under 15 from opening accounts and introduce parental controls that would manage children’s access.

Online gaming companies will also be required to appoint a representative in Turkiye to ensure they abide by the new regulations. Potential penalties include internet bandwidth reductions and fines imposed by Turkiye’s communications watchdog.

The bill’s adoption in Turkiye comes a week after a 14-year-old boy killed nine students and a teacher in a gun attack at a middle school in Kahramanmaras in southern Turkiye. Police are investigating the online activity of the perpetrator, who also died, in a bid to uncover his motivation for the attack

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan now has 15 days to approve the bill for it to become law. He spoke in the wake of the Kahramanmaras killings of the need to mitigate the online risks to children’s safety and privacy. “We are living in a period where some digital sharing applications are corrupting our children’s minds, and social media platforms have, to put it bluntly, become cesspools,” he said in a televised address on Monday.

Restrictions on social media access for children under 16 first began in December in Australia, where social media companies revoked access to about 4.7 million accounts identified as belonging to children. Last month, Indonesia began implementing a new government regulation banning children younger than 16 from access to digital platforms that could expose them to pornography, cyberbullying, online scams and addiction. Other countries, including Spain, France and the United Kingdom, are also taking or considering measures to restrict children’s access to social media amid growing concern that they are being harmed by exposure to unregulated social media content.

Opposition Party Criticises Proposal

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) criticised the proposal, saying children should be protected “not with bans but with rights-based policies.”

The Turkish government has been criticised by the opposition for restricting online platforms when used as a means of expressing dissent. Online communications were widely restricted during last year’s protests in support of Istanbul’s jailed opposition Mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu.

Turkey is preparing new legislation that will require social media users to log in with their national identification numbers, after Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said global platforms have accepted the plan and that a rollout will begin within months.

Gürlek said last week the regulation will be included in a judicial reform package and that users will be given a three-month transition period, at the end of which accounts not linked to verified identities will be closed.

According to the government, the measure targets fake and bot accounts and aims to hold users accountable for posts involving insults or reputational harm. The plan revives a proposal previously discussed in parliament and comes as authorities increase pressure on online platforms through legal and administrative measures. It would mark one of the most extensive identity verification requirements tied directly to a national ID system.

Anonymous accounts have become a common way for users in Turkey to express political opinions without revealing their identities. In recent years, individuals have faced investigation and detention following social media posts or even brief public comments circulated online. The new system would remove that layer of anonymity. Users would be directly identifiable through their national ID numbers, allowing authorities to link posts to individuals without additional investigative steps. However, cybersecurity experts note that even under the current system, users of anonymous accounts can already be traced through their internet access data and IP addresses and argue that the proposed regulation serves no purpose other than creating a climate of fear

The scope of the required data has drawn attention. A Turkish national ID number contains extensive personal information and is not limited to simple verification. Making it mandatory for access to social media introduces a broad and continuous data sharing mechanism between users and platforms. Because major platforms operate outside Turkey, this information would be processed by foreign-based companies, raising questions about cross-border data transfers and the handling of sensitive identity information outside the national jurisdiction.