Turkey President Abdullah Gul says Internet law doesn't ban Facebook, YouTube

In a recent interview Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened the banning of popular social media sites Facebook and YouTube, but the president said that won't happen.

As previously reported, the prime minister, who is dealing with a corruption scandal and information leaking online, threatened to block the use of the two popular sites in Turkey as he felt they "encourage all sorts of immorality, spying and espionage."

But President Abdullah Gul spoke with reporters and said that wouldn't be the case, reports World Bulletin. "There can be no talk of banning platforms, such as YouTube and Facebook, which operate across the globe."

A new bill governing Internet law worried opposition, but the president explained that the bill aims to block content that following a court ruling could block content on websites that infringe upon a person's privacy.

The bill was also amended to have any decision made to block a site's content be sent to a court within 24 hours for the court to make the final ruling. The court has two days to come to a conclusion as over whether to go with the decision or annul it.

Gul also noted that a court would be required for the final decision regarding online crimes relating to damaging a person's privacy. "Whatever constitutes a crime in the real world is a crime in the virtual world."

image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

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