Türkiye’s Head of Communications, Burhanettin Duran, has said a handful of tech giants cannot be allowed to decide through their algorithms what billions of people see on social media platforms.
“Today’s digital world must adopt and exercise three principles: accountability, fairness in algorithmic distribution, and plurality,” Duran said at the TRT World Forum’s panel on “Who Is in Charge in the Algorithmic Age? Companies, countries, and citizens” on Saturday.
Duran said technology companies cannot wield enormous influence over public life without being held responsible for their decisions.
“Technology companies cannot exercise enormous influence over public life without being held responsible for their decisions,” he said.
He also rejected a digital world in which some voices are heard far more widely than others.
“We cannot accept a digital world where some voices reach millions of people while others are barely heard at all,” Duran said.
“A judicial world must reflect the diversity of the world itself,” he said.
“No single country, culture or company should dominate it.”
The 10th edition of the TRT World Forum kicked off in Istanbul on Friday under the theme “A World Without a Center: Who Leads When the Rules Run Out?”
Organised annually by Turkish public broadcaster TRT since 2017, the high-level gathering at the Istanbul Congress Centre brings together politicians, academics, journalists, athletes, artists, and civil society representatives to address pressing global challenges.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered opening remarks on the first day of the forum on Friday, alongside Presidential Communications Director Burhanettin Duran and TRT Director General Mehmed Zahid Sobaci.
