A Turkish court ordered ban on news stories about Recep Çakır, a former national wrestler who was convicted of rape, citing a newly adopted social media law that introduced the “right to be forgotten,” according to the Turkish media.
The right to be forgotten is the right to have personal information on the Internet removed for various reasons. It was first formulated and legislated in the European Union in 2006.
Çakır was sentenced to 23 years, six months in 2012 after raping a 23-year-old woman four years earlier.
The stories had been run by the pro-government Sabah, Hürriyet, Takvim and Yeni Şafak dailies.
The new legislation, also introducing stricter government control over social media, came into effect on July 31.
“We should see the hazards of this new law. How can a rapist exercise this right?” Yaman Akdeniz, an academic focusing on digital rights, tweeted on Wednesday.