Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım on Tuesday warned young people to be careful about their social media messages, saying that posts of a “criminal nature” could cause them trouble.
“I have an important warning for our youths who use social media. The posts you share on social media and which are criminal in nature will cause you trouble,” said Yıldırım during a speech in Parliament.
“Indeed, those messages have already caused trouble for some,” added the prime minister as he indicated that the Turkish judiciary had already taken action against social media posts that involve hate speech and encourage chaos in society.
In a similar development on Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş said investigations were launched into 347 social media accounts which shared posts in support of terrorism following a shooting at a nightclub that killed 39 and wounded 69 on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters following a Cabinet meeting in Ankara, Kurtulmuş said Ankara has developed a close dialogue with social media service providers, including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, in order to shut down accounts that provide support to terrorist organizations.
“A probe was launched into 347 social media accounts since they had been found to have sown discord among the [Turkish] nation,” he said.
In a series of tweets from the Prime Ministry’s official account on Monday, Prime Minister Yıldırım had said that action will be taken against those who praise terror and crimes.