New Challenges in Copyright Law: Social Media / Telif Hakları Hukuku’nun Yeni Macerası: Sosyal Medya

• Published in: Folklor/edebiyat 2015-08, Vol.21 (83), p.389-410
• Main Authors: Selva Kaynak, Serhat Koç
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Access to Information; Copyright Law; Social Media; User Generated Content; User Rights
• ISSN: 1300-7491; 1300-7491

Current communication technologies provide fast and interactive medium for ideas and/or intellectual or artistic productions (works) to disseminate and to be communicated continuously and endlessly. With regards to new media, where the culture of creation is based on sharing and/or disseminating, the users now generate the content. Therefore, each user has become a creator at some level, whereas they used to be merely consumers before the development of social media. The most crucial and the most remarkable action of the social media websites, concerning copyright law, is the act of “sharing” due to the fact that they are based on user generated content. Therefore, this study attempts to refer to the intersection points of copyright laws and social media within the frame of act of “sharing/disseminating”. Social media has the utmost importance for the freedom of information, freedom of thought and free flow of information depending on the fact that it is a platform that enables effective participation of individuals with the tools such as creating, publishing and interpreting a content. However the court decisions to block access to many websites that took place in Turkey was and still is based on a violation of copyright. In this sense, copyright law also has a negative impact on social media, thus the growth of creativity.Hence, we concluded and convinced that on the one hand it is necessary to increase the level of knowledge regarding copyright law among the users of social media, on the other hand it is even more necessary to harmonize the copyright regulations in Turkey with the dynamics of new technological developments since the social media websites, which are based on user generated content and used for intellectual, artistic and scientific purposes as well, have the reputation of being one of the most effective appearance of a democratic society