Regulation on Social Network Providers Published in the Official Gazette

16 October 2026

The “Regulation on the Provision of Differentiated Services for Children and Age Verification by Social Network Providers” (the “Regulation”), published in the Official Gazette dated 10 October 2026 and numbered 33396, sets out the procedures and principles governing age verification processes, the provision of segregated services specifically for children who have reached the age of 15, and parental control tools by social network providers.

Under the Regulation, social network providers are prohibited from providing services to children under the age of 15, while services offered to children who have reached the age of 15 must be differentiated in accordance with their age and developmental needs. In this regard, the Regulation introduces obligations including setting children’s accounts to private by default, prohibiting live-streaming features for children’s accounts, and restricting the use of children’s personal data for profiling or personalised commercial advertising.

In addition, the Regulation provides for age verification through an age verification token generated via the e-Government Gateway, the provision of parental control tools, and the establishment of application and objection mechanisms concerning age verification results and measures applied to accounts.

The Regulation will enter into force on 1 November 2026. Social network providers must verify, at least once by 31 March 2027, existing accounts created before the Regulation’s entry into force that have not yet been verified using an age verification token. Existing accounts identified as belonging to children under the age of 15 must be closed following notification to the relevant users.

 

You may access the Regulation here.