New Obligations for Gaming Platforms in Turkey: Ratings and Parental Controls
Alongside the social media rules, the same law brings new obligations for gaming platforms: ratings, parental controls and a local representative.
Rating requirement
Under the law a gaming platform may not offer games that are not properly rated. It may offer unrated games only if it rates them at the highest age criterion. The platform must also remove content that is not properly rated.
Parental controls
Gaming platforms must provide clear, easy-to-use parental controls. They cover account settings and putting paid transactions such as purchases, rentals and paid memberships under parental permission or approval.
Local representative
Foreign gaming platforms with more than 100,000 daily visits from Turkey must appoint a natural or legal person as representative in Turkey, notify BTK and publish the representative’s contact details on their website.
What if a platform does not comply?
BTK sends a notice. If the obligation is not met within 30 days, an administrative fine of 1 million to 10 million TL may be imposed, and 10 million to 30 million TL if it is still not met. A request to reduce bandwidth by 30 percent may then be made to a criminal judgeship of peace.
When does it take effect?
The provisions for gaming platforms take effect six months after publication. The rating procedure will be set by a BTK regulation. See also the social media age limit calculator.
Source: Summary of the law text as reported in the news. Rely on the Official Gazette for the exact text.