The Turkish Presidency’s Office for Digital Transformation has drafted a regulation for public institutions, forbidding public officials from using foreign-made messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram for official business and ordering institutions to produce domestic apps to replace them, the Diken news website reported on Thursday.
The document gave the institutions 15 months to come up with Turkish-made messaging apps. Their servers will have to be located in Turkey, according to the report.
The presidency previously announced that restrictions on foreign apps would only concern confidential documents and that public officials would be allowed to continue using foreign apps in their private lives.