Under-15 Social Media Ban and Age Verification Rules Begin
With the new regulation prepared by the Cyber Security Directorate, the mandatory age verification on social networks and the timeline for the under-15 ban have been finalized.
With the regulation prepared by the Cyber Security Directorate and published in the Official Gazette, age verification obligations have been introduced for social network providers, and the effective date of the under-15 social media ban has been announced.
Entry into Force and Official Gazette Process
The Regulation on the Provision of Differentiated Services Specific to Children by Social Network Providers and Age Verification, prepared by the Cyber Security Directorate, was published in the Official Gazette dated October 10, 2026, and numbered 33396.
This new regulation, which restricts the use of social media by children under 15, will officially enter into force on November 1, 2026.
Age Verification and Account Creation
With the regulation, social network providers will not be able to offer services to children who have not reached the age of 15, and platforms are mandated to perform age verification at the account creation stage.
New account creation requests from children who are found not to have reached the age of 15 as a result of the age verification will be directly rejected.
Status of Existing Accounts
The new regulation covers not only newly opened accounts but also previously created existing accounts.
Social network providers will perform age verification at least once by March 31, 2027, for accounts opened before the regulation enters into force and for which age verification has not been performed.
Account Closure and Data Deletion
Existing accounts of children who are determined not to have reached the age of 15 as a result of age verification will be closed by providing necessary information to the users.
Data belonging to the accounts will be deleted after the process is completed in case of an objection, or without delay if no objection is made.
Those Born in 2011 and e-Government Verification
The social media use of children born in 2011 will be evaluated according to the introduced 15-year age limit and by checking whether they have completed their age as well as their birth years.
The age verification process to be carried out by social network providers will be performed via a technical token to be generated through the e-Government Gateway.
Security for Children Over 15
Children who have reached the age of 15 will not be completely deprived of social media services, and these users will not be left out of the system.
This age group will be able to use accounts where high levels of privacy and security rules are applied, within the scope of differentiated services specific to children.