Turkey’s public institutions to devise domestic messaging apps to replace foreign versions

The document gave the institutions 15 months to come up with Turkish-made messaging apps.

Hafsa Erdogdu

July 30, 2020

SAN ANSELMO, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 06: In this photo illustration, the WhatsApp application is displayed on a iPhone on April 6, 2016 in San Anselmo, California. Facebook-owned mobile mobile messaging application WhatsApp announced that it has completed end-to-end encryption of of all communication and data shared on the app. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP

The Turkish Presidency’s Office for Digital Transformation has drafted a regulation for public institutions, forbidding public officials from using foreign-made messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram for official business and ordering institutions to produce domestic apps to replace them, the Diken news website reported on Thursday.

The document gave the institutions 15 months to come up with Turkish-made messaging apps. Their servers will have to be located in Turkey, according to the report.

The presidency previously announced that restrictions on foreign apps would only concern confidential documents and that public officials would be allowed to continue using foreign apps in their private lives.