Turkiye passes legislation to tighten its grip on Steam and other gaming platforms, but it's social media companies that really get it in the neck

In February this year, Turkiye's Family and Social Services Ministry announced draft legislation to impose various restrictions and overweening oversight on Steam, Epic, and other gaming platforms. The country's parliament has now approved the bill, with some minor changes, which will mean tough times ahead for such platforms, and newly limited access for Turkish players.

The bill is part of a wider legislative push which, the government claims, is about protecting children by restricting access to things like social media. Some of the requirements of the new legislation are pretty boilerplate, such as clearly displaying age ratings and offering "clear [and] easy-to-use" parental tools, but the platform-holders will surely breathe a sigh of relief that the regulator will not have the authority to ban them (though it can throttle traffic after certain violations).

Any gaming platform that has more than 100,000 daily users in Turkiye mus...