Türkiye Published Its Social Media Ban for Under-15s. It Takes Effect November 1st
Key Takeaways
Türkiye has published a law banning children under 15 from social media, which takes effect on November 1st.
The law requires platforms to implement age verification through a government-issued token.
Privacy experts worry about implementing age and identity verification in a country known for its crackdowns on freedom.
On Saturday, October 10th, Türkiye formally published a law banning children under 15 from accessing social media platforms. The Turkish Parliament adopted the bill last April; its publication in the Official Gazette sets a November 1st enforcement date, giving platforms three weeks to comply.
The law requires platforms to implement age verification through a government-issued token — a system we covered in September when Türkiye’s Family and Social Services Minister first confirmed the e-Devlet-based approach. Platforms must put in place "the necessary technical and administrative measures, including age verification," or face Türkiye’s existing enforcement toolkit: fines, advertising bans, and bandwidth restrictions. The law also covers users aged 15 to 17, prohibiting platforms from offering services that could have "an addictive effect" — though what that means in practice remains to be specified.
Türkiye joins a crowded field. Australia banned social media for under-16s last year. The EU presented its KIDS Act proposal in September. Austria, Denmark, France, Greece, Spain, and Canada are all advancing similar national measures. The UK is expected to follow next year.
Türkiye’s version stands out from the broader wave because of its enforcement context. Over the past several years, Türkiye has banned Instagram, restricted YouTube, and blocked thousands of individual accounts and news websites.
A law requiring age verification through government-issued tokens, in a country Freedom House rated "not free" for internet access in 2025, puts different infrastructure in different hands than the same requirement would in a Western European context. Recently, a Turkish court blocked a news website and its social media accounts for what it deemed "LGBT propaganda." The token system that will verify a child's age is the same government infrastructure that processed that order.
The November 1st deadline is less than a month away. Whether platforms comply, partially comply, or exit the Turkish market — as Pornhub did in Australia — will start to become clear quickly.
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Gintarė is a cybersecurity writer at Mysterium VPN, where she explores online privacy, VPN technology, and the latest digital threats in editorial pieces. With hands-on experience researching and writing about data protection and digital freedom, Gintarė makes complex security topics accessible and actionable.
