Additional Article 4 of Internet Law No. 5651 is a regime introduced by Law No. 7253 of 29/7/2020 and heavily expanded by Law No. 7418 of 13/10/2022. Across twenty-one paragraphs it runs from appointing a representative to data localisation, and from six-monthly reporting to bandwidth throttling. The operator of a news website has only one question to ask: am I an addressee of this article? Below we first extract the regime from the text of the Law, and then answer that question against the tests in the definition.
Thresholds: most of the obligations are tied to a number
The most decisive feature of Additional Article 4 is that the obligations are tied to the number of daily accesses from Turkey. A social network provider falling below these thresholds is not subject to most of the heavy obligations in the article.
| Threshold | Whom it covers | Obligation arising | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| More than 1 million daily accesses from Turkey | FOREIGN-BASED social network provider | Designating at least one authorised representative in Turkey and publishing that person's contact details on the site | Additional Art. 4(1) |
| More than 10 million daily accesses from Turkey | Foreign-based social network provider | The representative must be fully authorised and responsible in technical, administrative, legal and financial terms; where a legal person, it must be a branch established in the form of a capital company | Additional Art. 4(1) |
| More than 1 million daily accesses from Turkey | DOMESTIC OR FOREIGN based | Reply to applications within 48 hours | Additional Art. 4(3) |
| More than 1 million daily accesses from Turkey | Domestic or foreign based | Report in Turkish at six-monthly intervals | Additional Art. 4(4) |
| More than 1 million daily accesses from Turkey | Domestic or foreign based | Measures towards hosting the data of users in Turkey within Turkey | Additional Art. 4(6) |
| No threshold | All social network providers | Segregated service specific to children, crisis plan, compliance with user-rights arrangements, sharing with law enforcement | Additional Art. 4(7), (13), (16), (19) |
Appointing a Turkey representative — Additional Article 4(1)
A foreign-based social network provider with more than one million daily accesses from Turkey designates at least one authorised person as a representative in Turkey for the purpose of complying with service, notifications or requests sent by the Authority, the Access Providers Association or judicial or administrative authorities, and of answering applications made by individuals; and it gives that person's contact details on its website in a manner that is easily visible and directly accessible. The identity and contact details of the representative are notified to the Authority.
The qualifications added by Law No. 7418 are these: where the representative is a natural person, that person must be resident in Turkey and a Turkish citizen. Where daily access from Turkey is more than ten million, the designated representative — without prejudice to the responsibilities of the social network provider — becomes fully authorised and responsible in technical, administrative, legal and financial terms; and where a legal person, it must be a branch established in the form of a capital company directly by the social network provider.
The graduated sanction ladder — Additional Article 4(2)
If the obligation to designate and notify a representative is not fulfilled, the Law provides not a one-off penalty but a ladder that grows heavier step by step. The figures and periods come directly from the text of the Law:
ADDITIONAL ARTICLE 4(2) — SANCTION LADDER (from the text of
Law No. 5651)
0. A NOTIFICATION is issued by the Authority.
1. If the obligation is not fulfilled within 30 DAYS of the
notification .................. administrative fine of TRY 10,000,000
2. If it is still not fulfilled within 30 DAYS of service of the
fine ....................... a further administrative fine of
TRY 30,000,000
3. If it is still not fulfilled within 30 DAYS of service of the
second fine ....... ADVERTISING BAN (natural and legal persons who
are taxpayers resident in Turkey may not place new advertising;
no new contract may be concluded and no money transferred)
4. If it is still not fulfilled within 3 MONTHS of the advertising
ban decision ....... the President may apply to the criminal
judgeship of peace for the internet traffic bandwidth to be
throttled by FIFTY PER CENT
5. If it is still not fulfilled within 30 DAYS of the implementation
of the judge's decision ... the President may apply to the
criminal judgeship of peace for the bandwidth to be throttled
BY UP TO NINETY PER CENT (the judge may set a lower rate,
provided it is not lower than fifty per cent)
IMPLEMENTATION OF DECISIONS: carried out by access providers
immediately upon notification and within FOUR HOURS at the latest.
REVERSAL: if the obligation to designate and notify a representative
is fulfilled, ONE QUARTER of the administrative fines imposed is
collected, the advertising ban is lifted and the judge's decisions
become void of their own accord.The same paragraph also provides that each step of the ladder may be challenged by way of objection by the President under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure No. 5271.
Replying to applications within 48 hours — Additional Article 4(3)
A domestic or foreign based social network provider with more than one million daily accesses from Turkey is obliged, as regards content within the scope of Articles 9 and 9/A, to give a positive or negative reply within forty-eight hours at the latest of the application to applications made by individuals. Negative replies are given with reasons. A social network provider that fails to fulfil the obligation in this paragraph is subject, under Additional Article 4(8), to an administrative fine of five million Turkish liras.
Six-monthly reporting and transparency — Additional Article 4(4)
A domestic or foreign based social network provider with more than one million daily accesses from Turkey notifies the Authority, at six-monthly intervals, of reports prepared in Turkish containing statistical and categorical information on the implementation of decisions notified to it for the removal of content and/or the blocking of access, and on the applications within the scope of the third paragraph. The report on applications within the scope of the third paragraph is also published on the social network provider's own website, purged of personal data.
- The reports also contain information on trending topic tags, on the algorithms relating to content given prominence or reduced in reach, on advertising policies and on transparency policies (sentences added by Law No. 7418).
- The social network provider is obliged to act in accordance with the principle of accountability and to supply all information and documents requested by the Authority.
- There is an obligation to treat users equally and impartially; the measures taken are set out in the report.
- Which parameters are used in making recommendations to users is published on the website in a clear, comprehensible and easily accessible manner.
- An ADVERTISING LIBRARY containing information on advertisements such as the content, the advertiser, the duration of the advertisement, the target audience and the number of persons reached is created and published through the website.
- A party that fails to fulfil the obligation in this paragraph is subject, under Additional Article 4(8), to an administrative fine of ten million Turkish liras.
Data localisation — Additional Article 4(6)
The text of the paragraph is short and establishes an obligation of effort rather than of result: "A domestic or foreign based social network provider with more than one million daily accesses from Turkey takes the necessary measures towards hosting the data of users in Turkey within Turkey." The Law lays down no period or technical standard here. Breach of this paragraph is sanctioned, under Additional Article 4(20), by an administrative fine of up to three per cent of global turnover in the preceding calendar year.
Other critical paragraphs
- Additional Art. 4(5): the information necessary to reach the perpetrators who create or disseminate content constituting the offences under Articles 103, 217/A (publicly disseminating misleading information), 302, 309-316 and 328-337 of the Turkish Penal Code is supplied to the judicial authorities by the representative in Turkey upon the request of a prosecutor or court. If it is not supplied, an application may be made to the Ankara Criminal Judgeship of Peace for the bandwidth of the foreign-based provider to be throttled by ninety per cent.
- Additional Art. 4(7): the social network provider takes the necessary measures as regards offering a segregated service specific to children.
- Additional Art. 4(10): where a removal or blocking decision issued by the President is not complied with, an advertising ban decision of up to six months may be issued; the decision is published in the Official Gazette. Bandwidth may then be throttled by fifty per cent and, if the decision is not complied with within thirty days, by up to ninety per cent.
- Additional Art. 4(12): natural and legal persons who are taxpayers resident in Turkey and who act contrary to the advertising ban may be subject to an administrative fine of from ten thousand Turkish liras up to one hundred thousand Turkish liras.
- Additional Art. 4(14): a social network provider that fails to remove, or to block access to, content whose unlawfulness has been established by a decision of a judge or court within TWENTY-FOUR HOURS of being notified of it is liable for compensation of the resulting damage; it is not a condition for this that proceedings be brought against the content provider.
- Additional Art. 4(15): an effective application mechanism is established for trending topic tags and content given prominence; if unlawful content notified is not removed immediately and within FOUR HOURS at the latest, the social network provider is directly liable for the content.
- Additional Art. 4(16): content endangering the life and property security of individuals, and information relating to the person who created it, is shared with the competent law enforcement units where there is a risk in delay.
- Additional Art. 4(17): the obligations of the social network provider DO NOT REMOVE the liabilities and obligations arising from its being a content or hosting provider.
- Additional Art. 4(18): the Authority may request any explanation, including on corporate structure, information systems, algorithms, data processing mechanisms and commercial conduct; the social network provider is obliged to supply these within THREE MONTHS at the latest, and the Authority may carry out on-site inspections at all facilities.
- Additional Art. 4(19): a crisis plan is drawn up for extraordinary situations affecting public security and public health, and is notified to the Authority.
Fines — the amounts in the text of the Law
| Legal basis | Conduct | Sanction |
|---|---|---|
| Additional Art. 4(2) | Failure to appoint a Turkey representative — first step | Administrative fine of TRY 10,000,000 |
| Additional Art. 4(2) | Failure to appoint a Turkey representative — second step | A further administrative fine of TRY 30,000,000 |
| Additional Art. 4(8) | Breach of Additional Art. 4(3) (failure to reply within 48 hours) | Administrative fine of TRY 5,000,000 |
| Additional Art. 4(8) | Breach of Additional Art. 4(4) (reporting/transparency) | Administrative fine of TRY 10,000,000 |
| Additional Art. 4(9) | Foreign-based, more than 1 million daily accesses — administrative fines within the scope of Arts. 8 and 8/A | TRY 1,000,000 (fixed) |
| Additional Art. 4(9) | The same providers — judicial fines within the scope of Arts. 8 and 9 | 50,000 days (fixed) |
| Additional Art. 4(12) | Taxpayer resident in Turkey acting contrary to the advertising ban | TRY 10,000 – 100,000 |
| Additional Art. 4(20) | Breach of paragraphs 6, 7, 13, 16, 18 and 19 of Additional Art. 4 | UP TO THREE PER CENT OF GLOBAL TURNOVER in the preceding calendar year |
The real question: does a news website count as a social network provider?
The Law does not answer this question expressly. All we have is the definition in Article 2(1)(s) and the thresholds in Additional Article 4. For comparison, keep this difference of scale in mind: for an ordinary hosting provider the administrative fine in Article 5(6) of Law No. 5651 is TRY 100,000 – 1,000,000, and the fine in Article 3(2) for missing identifying information is TRY 2,000 – 50,000; the figures in Additional Article 4 are one to two orders of magnitude higher, and the addressees of the regime are large-scale platforms. The assessment is made against these three tests:
- THE PURPOSE ELEMENT — Is the service offered "for the purpose of social interaction"? The primary purpose of a news website is to deliver news. The presence of a comment section does not turn the purpose of the service into social interaction.
- THE FUNCTION ELEMENT — Can users create, view or share content such as text, images, sound or location? A comment area is a limited form of that function; the argument grows stronger as structures such as profiles, following, user feeds, messaging and forums are added.
- THE THRESHOLD ELEMENT — Almost all the obligations in Additional Article 4 depend on daily access from Turkey being more than one million, and the representative obligation additionally on being foreign-based. A publication below the threshold is not an addressee of the heavy obligations in the article, even if its capacity is arguable.
In conclusion: a typical domestic news website falls outside this regime, because it does not carry the purpose element and does not meet the thresholds. But that is not a provision of the Law; it is an assessment drawn from the definition — the Law has not drawn this distinction expressly, and the characterisation has been left to the practice of the Authority and to judicial decisions. If a publishing organisation operates a separate social interaction platform alongside its news site, the assessment is made separately for that platform.
Does Additional Article 5, added by Law No. 7578, cover news sites?
No. Additional Article 5, added by Article 23 of Law No. 7578, concerns game platforms and does not cover news sites. Subparagraphs (ş), (t), (u) and (ü) added to Article 2 of Law No. 5651 by Article 21 of the same Law also define that field: "Game", "Game distributor", "Game developer" and "Game platform". Those definitions are already in the text of the Law; Additional Article 5 itself will enter into force on 1/11/2026. The amendments made by Law No. 7578 to Additional Article 4 relate to social network providers — the thresholds, periods and amounts in this article may differ after 1/11/2026, and every assessment based on Additional Article 4 must be made afresh after that date.
In practice: what should a news site operator do?
- Put in writing a record of the functions your site actually offers: are there only comments, or also social interaction features such as user profiles, following, messaging, user feeds and media uploads?
- Keep your daily access figures from Turkey in measurable form. How the threshold is to be calculated is determined by the Authority (Additional Art. 4(21)), but having documented your own measurement strengthens your position.
- Do not neglect your real obligations: identifying information under Article 3(1) of Law No. 5651, removal upon being put on notice under Article 5(2), and traffic-data retention under Article 5(3). These bind you regardless of any threshold.
- Know how removal and blocking decisions arrive and how the four-hour implementation period works; we set the process out step by step in our article on what to do when a removal request arrives.
- To see all the headings in a single list, use the legal compliance checklist for internet news sites.
SOCIAL NETWORK PROVIDER CAPACITY — SELF-ASSESSMENT NOTE
Name of publication : ____________________
Date of assessment : ____________________
A. PURPOSE ELEMENT (Art. 2(1)(s))
[ ] The purpose for which the service is offered is to deliver
news/information
[ ] The service is offered for the purpose of social interaction
B. FUNCTION ELEMENT (Art. 2(1)(s))
[ ] There are reader comments
[ ] There is a user profile / account page
[ ] There is following / friending between users
[ ] There is private messaging between users
[ ] There is a user content feed
[ ] Users can share images/sound/location
[ ] There is a forum / discussion section
C. THRESHOLD ELEMENT (Additional Art. 4)
Base : [ ] domestic [ ] foreign
Daily accesses from Turkey (own measurement) : ____________
[ ] below 1,000,000
[ ] between 1,000,000 and 10,000,000
[ ] above 10,000,000
Method and source of measurement : ____________________
NOTE: the procedures and principles of measurement are
determined by the Authority under Additional Art. 4(21).
D. CONCLUSION
[ ] Capacity not arguable, threshold not exceeded either
[ ] Capacity arguable, threshold not exceeded
[ ] Threshold exceeded — legal opinion required
E. OBLIGATIONS THAT APPLY IN ANY EVENT
[ ] Art. 3(1) identifying information up to date
[ ] Art. 5(2) removal-on-notification flow in place
[ ] Art. 5(3) traffic data (IP, port, time) retained