Turkey bans social media for children under 15 starting tomorrow

Turkey's new social media regulation for children takes effect tomorrow, Saturday, October 31, 2026. Platforms will no longer be allowed to serve children under 15, and account opening requests from underage users will be rejected. Age verification will be carried out through a document created via e-Devlet.

The regulation was published in the Official Gazette on October 10 and imposes new obligations on social media platforms regarding age verification and child protection. A transition period under a temporary provision will run until March 31, 2027, after which the verification system will be fully implemented.

“After this date we will switch to the verification system. After that, login will be possible with the tokens we provide.”

Accounts belonging to children who have turned 15 will be private by default. Live broadcasts and personalized advertisements will be prohibited on these accounts, and content will not be presented using infinite scrolling methods.

Children will be able to receive messages only from accounts they follow. Other users will not be able to view the follower and following lists of child accounts.

Family and Social Services Minister Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş stated that everything regarding the regulation has been clearly laid out. She said that after March 31, 2027, users will be able to log in using tokens provided by the state.

The minister also said that screen recording and live broadcasts will be banned for users aged 15 to 18. Children will be able to receive messages only from accounts they follow, and the seen status can be turned off.

Minister Göktaş stated that children up to the age of 18 have been protected from the social media environment through this regulation.