On January 15, the government issued a draft regulation for a Digital Media Regulation System. This was issued as an implementing regulation to certain clauses of the Press and Publications Law, and the Audiovisual Media Law.
As is the case with all draft laws and regulations, a 15-day comment period followed the draft Digital Media Regulation System’s publication on the website. During this period, some objections by civil society actors were raised. As the draft Digital Media Regulation System is a draft regulation rather than a law, it will not go through review by Parliament and can be directly finalized and put into effect by the government.
If adopted as currently drafted, it would introduce a regulatory expansion into the domain of ‘digital media.’ Most notably, it introduces compulsory licensing/registration to digital media ‘professionals’ — defined widely, and specifically including content creators, so long as they derive income from their work — which would be under the legal purview of the Media Authority. Content prohibitions in the law include “violence, terrorism, incitement to sedition, disturbing public order, suicide, promoting or inciting the use of narcotics, or inciting the commission of crimes” as well as “hate speech, dissemination of false information or rumors, misleading content, or infringement of privacy”, and intellectual property rights violations. There are also some provisions on artificial intelligence use as it relates to digital media. Authorities can revoke licenses, with very little specification regarding the procedures or criteria for doing so.
As of March 2026, the draft Digital Media Regulation System remains under consideration and has not yet been published in the Official Gazette.