Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu answered Mehmet Akif Ersoy’s questions in Habertürk TV live broadcast. Minister Uraloğlu, who made a statement about Roblox and Discord, which are access disabled, said, “We are diligent in supporting portals that are compatible with our culture and beliefs. Let me say this about Roblox. 8 social media platforms have representatives in Turkey. Roblox and Discord do not. “Roblox has 15 million subscribers. Of course, it is possible to reopen it even though it organizes the content we want,” he said.
“IF THEY REMOVE THE CONTENT WE WANT, IT IS POSSIBLE TO OPEN ROBLOX”
Referring to the closure process of Roblox, Uraloğlu said, “We received very serious responses from many families asking, ‘Did they have these in them?’ Of course, children have reactions, but many families, not even children, know about the game, which aims beyond that. If they release the content we want, Roblox will be available again.” It is possible for us to open it. There are discussions about whether mainstream broadcasting organizations and television channels will be left to the likes of YouTube. It is possible that you and I will face certain sanctions, even if you do not. “You have a conscience. You can share many posts that are provocative and threaten security in such media. There are sanctions, but they are not like the mainstream in terms of discipline,” he said.
“DISCORD OBJECTED THE COURT DECISION”
Uraloğlu stated that they had 119 FETO accounts of We have rules, we warn those who do not comply, we impose fines, we put tape and finally we close them, I think we will make these decisions with the relevant ministries. We are talking. Our biggest obstacle is to do this without taking on a prohibitive character. We definitely want to protect our children. We are discussing among ourselves whether we could have carried out that process more openly and professionally. Roblox has objected to the court decision. ” he said.
“WE ARE OPENING AN ACCOUNT FOR THE CHILD WHO IS ALMOST BORN”
Pointing out that he does not like the word ban, Uraloğlu said, “Regulation, because there are a lot of gray and blurry areas there. It is a very dynamic process. That is why we need to catch up without missing some things. Many countries in the world are implementing different regulations regarding social media channels every day. You know about the arrest of a social media platform in the past months, such as the ban on TikTok, the ban on the use of some social media platforms in their work, etc. If we look at the numbers in Turkey, there are almost 75 people. “Million people have accounts. We have many people who are members of Instagram and YouTube. We open accounts for almost every newborn child,” he said.
“I HAVE PERSONAL OPINION THAT UNDER THE AGE OF 16 SHOULD NOT OPEN A SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT”
Some highlights from Minister Uraloğlu’s statements are as follows:
“It is written in some movies, when you search on Google, it asks for the age of +18. Let’s assume that he is under the age of 16 who enters there with the sole intention of playing games and chatting with his friends. If you take him to other places, encourage him, provoke him, this is another thing. He will be able to choose this. We can leave it at that as it is the choice of our people who have reached this level, but I have an individual opinion that people under the age of 16 should really be disciplined and should not be able to open social media accounts. We are consulting with many ministries and institutions on this issue.
First of all, it encourages and provokes violence. There is peer bullying. There is content that even goes as far as porn, which a person of his or her age should not be exposed to. Essentially encouraging society to commit crime; We believe that the news he spreads is true without questioning. I think we can put a title as “young people are the ones who believe this fake news more.”
“WE CAN OPEN A TITLE ABOUT SEXUALITY”
We can open a topic about sexuality. We can open a topic about the deterioration of family structure. We follow the whole world. That 16 years of age is correct in this sense. We think that people over the age of 16 should be able to open it. We will set criteria such as not accepting this membership on social media platforms and not being able to play games on their portal. First of all, we did not make this decision. We argue intensely. “After making the decision and preparing the necessary legislation, we will say, ‘Please do what is necessary.'”