Law No. 5651 on Regulating the Internet was amended in March 2015, broadening the scope of administrative blocking. As a result, Türkiye’s regulator may ban content to secure the protection of life and private property, protection of national security and public order, prevention of crimes, and protection of public health without a prior court order.

Türkiye has reportedly blocked more than 130 social networking and news sites over the years, including independent news sites such as Bianet.org. In addition, major social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Periscope, and online tools such as Google Docs, Translate, Books, Analytics, and DropBox have also been blocked at some point.
In addition, the Turkish government reportedly banned access to 712,000 websites in 2022. Nearly 500,000 of these blocks were carried out by the Turkish Information and Communications Technology Authority (BTK). Some 150,000 URLs were banned from access, in addition to 9,800 Twitter accounts, 55,500 tweets, 16,585 YouTube videos, 12,000 Facebook posts, and 11,150 Instagram posts.
Furthermore, in August 2023 access to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in Türkiye was blocked for the second time in the month. It is reported that in Türkiye Internet service providers cooperate with the government and block certain websites when the government deems it necessary.

According to Art. 6 of Law No. 2937, intelligence services are entitled to request any type of document/information from individuals and private/public entities while performing their duties. It is not clear whether a court order is needed.

The Regulation of Publications on the Internet and Suppression of Crimes Committed by means of Such Publications establishes a safe harbour regime for intermediaries for copyright infringements. According to Art. 4 of the law, a content provider is not responsible for the link to the content that belongs to someone else. However, if it is clear from the format of the presentation that the content in question it links to is embraced and intended to be reachable, the content provider is responsible according to the general provisions.

The Regulation of Publications on the Internet and Suppression of Crimes Committed by means of Such Publications establishes a safe harbour regime for intermediaries for copyright infringements. According to Art. 4 of the law, a content provider is not responsible for the link to the content that belongs to someone else. However, if it is clear from the format of the presentation that the content in question it links to is embraced and intended to be reachable, the content provider is responsible according to the general provisions.

According to Article 11 of the Regulation on the Registry of Data Controllers, a contact person must be appointed if the data controller is a legal entity located in Türkiye and is not exempt from registration with the Turkish Personal Data Protection Authority. Additionally, if the data controller is not located in Türkiye, it must appoint a representative who must be either a Turkish legal entity or Turkish citizen.
The data controller’s contact person or representative is responsible for managing communications with the Turkish Personal Data Protection Authority and data subjects. Data controllers remain liable for compliance with the Protection of Personal Data Law regardless of the appointment of a contact person or a representative.

Pursuant to Art. 5 of Law No. 5651, all data stored by hosting providers, which are defined as real persons or legal entities who provide and operate the systems which host services and content, must be made available to the Information and Communication Technologies Authority upon request, without the need for a court order. Failure to comply can result in fines ranging from 10,000 liras (approx. USD 1,300) to 100,000 liras (approx. USD 12,800).

According to Art. 28 of the Personal Data Protection Law, institutions and third parties are compelled to hand over personal data to intelligence agencies and police when it is needed to process personal data within the scope of preventive, protective and intelligence activities carried out by public institutions and organizations authorized by law to ensure national defense, national security, public security, public order or economic security.
Only exception to this requirement are health data and sexual life data, which can only be processed by natural persons who are under an oath of secrecy or by authorities for the purposes of protecting public health, preventive medicine, medical diagnosis, the provision of care and treatment services or planning, and the management and financing of healthcare services. This exception is provided in the Art. 6 of the Personal Data Protection Law.

Law No. 6698 provides a comprehensive regime of data protection in Türkiye. It outlines a similar framework to the European Data Protection Directive (Directive 95/46/EC). Secondary legislation in Türkiye, in the form of regulations and communications, has been evolving in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) (GDPR). Law No. 6698 establishes the Personal Data Protection Authority (KVKK) and the Board as the supervisory authorities responsible for its enforcement. The KVKK serves a mostly administrative role, while the Board is the decision-making organ within the KVKK. The KVKK was established as an independent regulatory authority with institutional and financial autonomy and is responsible for ensuring personal data protection and raising awareness in this respect.

Art. 23 of Law No. 6493 requires that "the system operator, payment institution and electronic money institution shall be required to keep all the documents and records related to the matters within the scope of this Law for at least ten years within the country, in a secure and accessible manner". The article also specifies that "The information systems and their substitutes, which are used by system operator to carry out its activities shall also be kept within the country".

According to Article 51(10) of the Electronic Communications Law No. 5809:
- Personal data subject to inspection, examination, investigation or dispute shall be retained until the related period has been completed;
- Logs regarding with the access of personal data and related other systems are retained for two years;
- Logs that prove the consent of subscribers/users for processing personal data are retained throughout subscription period;
- Categories of data to be retained and data retention periods, not less than one year and not more than two years from the date of the communication, are determined by secondary law.

Art. 51 of the Electronic Communications Law stipulates that the transfer of traffic and location data abroad is permitted with the data subjects' explicit consent.

Türkiye has not joined any agreement with binding commitments to open transfers of data across borders.

According to Art. 9 of the Personal Data Protection Law, data cannot be processed or transferred abroad without the individual's explicit consent. Consent will not be required if the transfer is necessary to exercise a right or is required by law, and either:
- Sufficient protection exists in the transferee country, or
- if the data controller gives a written security undertaking and Türkiye’s Data Protection Board grants permission.
It is reported that these conditions are very restrictive, so that, in some cases, data controllers have made their own assessment of whether personal data will be adequately protected based on the criteria used by the Turkish Personal Data Protection Authority to assess adequacy.

Art. 5.2 of the Regulation on the Processing of Personal Data and the Protection of Confidentiality in the Electronic Communications Sector prohibits the cross-border transfer of traffic and location data due to national security reasons. Traffic data is defined in Art. 4 as any data processed for communication or invoicing in an electronic communication network, for example, the parties in phone calls or the duration of the call, and location data is the specific data that determines the geographical location of the device belonging to the public electronic communication service user and processed in/through the electronic communication network.