Turkey passes measure to tighten control on social media

ANKARA (Web Desk) - Turkey's parliament has passed a bill that would impose new restrictions on social media companies — a move that could further restrict free speech. According to the foreign media, under the new law, social media giants such as Facebook and Twitter will be required to designate representatives for investigations and legal proceedings relating to offences on their platforms. The Turkish parliament has ratified a bill to help the country effectively regulate social media. The legislation was passed early on Wednesday by the ruling Justice and Development Party and opposition Nationalist Movement Party lawmakers. Lawmakers also approved a motion putting parliament on recess until October 1. The bill sets a formal definition of social media providers and aims to designate a responsible representative for investigations and legal proceedings relating to offences on platforms. It defines real or legal entities that allow users to create, monitor or share online content such as text, visual, voice and location for social interaction as social network providers.