The Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) has filed an appeal against a ruling by Turkey's Council of State that upheld a regulation requiring internet broadcasters to obtain licenses from the country’s media watchdog, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK).
MLSA had originally filed the lawsuit in 2019, arguing that the regulation—formally titled the "Regulation on the Presentation of Radio, Television and On-Demand Broadcasts via Internet"—violates press and expression freedoms by subjecting online content to RTÜK oversight and imposing heavy administrative and financial burdens on digital media outlets. The case was only concluded six years later, when the Council of State ruled the regulation to be “foreseeable” and therefore lawful.
In its appeal to the Council of State’s Administrative Litigation Chambers, MLSA’s Legal Unit argued that the regulation contains vague and unpredictable provisions that allow for arbitrary enforcement. The appeal emphasized the disproportionate impact on small-scale internet broadcasters, highlighting requirements such as the need to establish a joint-stock company, pay high licensing fees, and store broadcast content for extended periods—conditions that MLSA says primarily target independent journalists and alternative media platforms.
MLSA also noted the lack of clear criteria for determining which broadcasters must obtain a license, arguing that this violates the constitutional principle of equality. The organization cited the example of Cumhuriyet newspaper’s YouTube channel, which was among the first platforms required to comply with the licensing rule, as evidence of selective and arbitrary implementation.
According to data obtained from RTÜK through a freedom of information request, access bans were sought for 196 internet addresses between 2020 and the present on the grounds that they had failed to obtain broadcast licenses. These included the websites of major international news outlets such as Euronews, Deutsche Welle, and Voice of America.
MLSA is calling for the annulment of the Council of State’s decision, arguing that the regulation imposes limitations on press and expression freedoms that are incompatible with democratic norms. The appeal is seen as potentially setting an important precedent for judicial oversight of internet broadcasting regulations in Turkey.
The legal basis for RTÜK’s authority over internet broadcasting was introduced in 2018 through amendments to Law No. 7103. The change added Article 29/A to Turkey’s Law No. 6112, granting RTÜK regulatory control over radio, television, and on-demand content distributed online. The regulation, jointly drafted by RTÜK and the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK), was published in the Official Gazette on Aug. 1, 2019, and introduced a broad supervision framework for online broadcasting, including high licensing fees, mandatory corporate registration, and content retention obligations.
