RTÜK Fines Four Streaming Platforms, Orders Content Removal

The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) has imposed administrative fines and ordered the removal of specific titles from the catalogs of four digital streaming platforms. The regulator cited content involving LGBT propaganda, child abuse, obscenity, and the promotion of violence as the basis for the penalties.

RTÜK applied a 3 percent administrative fine to HBO Max and Netflix, while Prime Video and Disney+ received a 5 percent administrative fine. In addition to the financial penalties, the council ordered the removal of specific productions from each platform’s catalog.

HBO Max and Prime Video Penalties

For HBO Max, RTÜK imposed a 3 percent administrative fine and ordered the removal of the documentary 'Bang My Box: The Robin Byrd Story'. The council determined that the documentary explicitly displays sexuality and pornography, and legitimizes homosexual relationships.

RTÜK stated that the documentary violated provisions of Law No. 6112 regarding general morality, protection of the family, and obscenity.

On Prime Video, the series 'Spartacus: House of Ashur' was removed from the catalog alongside a 5 percent administrative fine. The regulator cited slow-motion blood splatter, limb loss, and the detailing of violence as a 'pleasure scene' as reasons for the penalty.

RTÜK also noted constant exposure of male and female bodies, extreme obscenity, and sexual intercourse scenes contrary to human nature and universal moral norms in its assessment of the series.

Netflix and Disney+ Sanctions

Netflix received a 3 percent administrative fine and was ordered to remove the film 'Heartstopper' (Heartstopper: Sonsuza Dek). RTÜK determined that the presentation of LGBTQ+ relationships in the film was contrary to the Turkish family structure, spiritual values, and general morality.

The council found that homosexual togetherness scenes were presented visually in an aesthetic and cute manner through the use of music and effects, making the homosexual lifestyle encouraging to the young target audience.

RTÜK noted that the Netflix film carries a warning that it is adapted from the book 'Kalp Çarpıntısı', which was decided by the Turkish Ministry of Family and Social Services Harmful Publications Board to be unsuitable for minors.

Disney+ was fined 5 percent and ordered to remove the series 'A Teacher'. RTÜK determined that the series, which concerns a relationship between a teacher and a minor student, romanticized and eroticized the teacher's abusive behavior.

The regulator stated that this portrayal blurred the nature of child abuse and risked its normalization. RTÜK penalized the series for violating the provision of Law No. 6112 stating that content cannot contain abuse against children, the weak, and the disabled and cannot encourage violence.