Turkish Court upholds prison sentence for unauthorized social media reposting

The Turkish Court of Cassation (Yargıtay) has upheld a prison sentence for an individual who reposted videos of another person being assaulted on social media. The defendant was sentenced to 1 year and 8 months in prison for the crime of “unlawfully giving or obtaining data.”

The case originated in Bursa, where an individual shared footage of themselves being beaten on their own social media account. A second individual subsequently downloaded these images and shared them on their own profile. Following a complaint from the victim, the Bursa 9th Criminal Court of First Instance initially acquitted the defendant, ruling that the act was not defined as a crime under the law.

However, upon appeal, the Bursa Regional Court of Justice overturned the acquittal and imposed the prison sentence. The Court of Cassation 12th Penal Chamber unanimously upheld this decision, clarifying that even if a person has previously shared their own personal data online, it does not strip that information of its status as personal data, nor does it grant third parties the right to redistribute it without consent.