Dailymotion sets up legal representative in Turkey

By Arife Yildiz Unal

ANKARA (AA) - French video-sharing technology platform Dailymotion appointed a representative in Turkey, a senior Turkish official said on Saturday.

“One of the foreign-sourced social network provider Dailymotion with more than 1 million daily access from Turkey has appointed a representative in Turkey,” Deputy Transport and Infrastructure Minister Omer Fatih Sayan wrote on Twitter.

“We expect the same step as soon as possible from social networks that have not yet appointed representatives,” Sayan added.

On Friday, Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok agreed to appoint a formal representative in Turkey.

Last year, Turkey imposed a fine of 40 million Turkish liras ($5.43 million) on multiple social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for not complying with a new social media law.

The law requires social platforms to appoint local representatives in Turkey.

So far, Russian social network VKontakte (VK), YouTube, and TikTok have decided to assign local representatives in the country.

As part of the new legislation, social media firms must respond to requests by the Turkish government in the Turkish language and must answer requests concerning personal and privacy rights within 48 hours.

The platforms should also publish semi-annual reports on their response rates to such requests.

Social networks that do not comply with court orders to remove illegal content are to be subject to penalties, according to the law.

In addition, it also holds social media companies to take measures to host Turkey-based users’ data in the country.