Facebook has decided to defy a new law in Turkey requiring social media companies to establish a formal presence in the country, setting the stage for a showdown with the government of president Recep Tayyip Erdogan that could culminate in the platform being blocked.
The San Francisco-based company informed the Turkish government in recent days that it would not be complying with the legislation, which went into force last week, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The decision will be welcomed by human rights campaigners who had urged technology companies not to bow to requirements that they described as “draconian” and a fresh attempt by Mr Erdogan’s government to muzzle free speech.
But it opens Facebook up to penalties including escalating fines and a reduction of its internet bandwidth by as much as 90 per cent — a move that would make the…