The proposed legal amendments regulating social networking platforms (social media) will require platform providers to register a legal presence in Azerbaijan (branch or representative office); to establish a dedicated contact center to facilitate prompt and effective communication with Azerbaijani state authorities; to publicly disclose the relevant contact information; to ensure that communications with the contact center can be conducted in the official state language of the Republic of Azerbaijan; to introduce age-restriction rules, verification procedures; provide annual reports to the Azerbaijani Government, by 15 January of each year; to comply by the enhanced personal data protection regulations.
The Draft Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan ”On Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences’, the Law ‘On Information, Informatization and Protection of Information’, and the Law ‘On Protection of Children from Harmful Information", dated 30 June, 2026 (Hereinafter “Social Networking Laws”) is on the third reading of Milli Majlis. The Draft Social Networking Laws will enter into force twelve months after the date of its publication.
The proposed Social Networking Laws introduce, for the first time, a legal definition of "social networking platform" under Azerbaijani legislation and establish a new regulatory framework applicable to social platform providers. Among other changes, the Law introduces registration requirements for certain platform providers, imposes new compliance obligations, and establishes an enforcement mechanism, including administrative sanctions for non-compliance.
The Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan guarantees everyone's right to freedom of information. Pursuant to this provision, everyone has the freedom to lawfully seek, obtain, transmit, produce, and disseminate information of their choice. The primary legal guarantees of this right are provided by the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On Freedom of Information" and the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On Access to Information."
Under Article 7 of the Law "On Freedom of Information," sources of information include documents and other information carriers containing information in accordance with the procedure established by legislation, public statements, as well as information disseminated by media subjects.
According to Article 1.1.2 of the Law "On Media," media refers to the instruments and means used for the periodic or regular publication and/or broadcasting of mass information, as well as the information environment formed through such means. A media subject is defined as a natural person (excluding journalists) or a legal entity whose principal activity is the publication and/or broadcasting of mass information, as well as a branch or representative office in the Republic of Azerbaijan of a foreign legal entity operating in the media sector. Online media refers to media that publishes mass information in textual, audio, visual, or other electronic (digital) formats through a website, excluding audiovisual media and print media.
Furthermore, the Law "On Freedom of Information" provides that the right to freedom of information may be restricted only in the circumstances prescribed by the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, namely during war, martial law, a state of emergency, or mobilization.
Information that may be accessed is divided into two categories: public information and information subject to restricted access. The latter includes state secrets; professional secrets (including attorney-client privilege, notarial confidentiality, and medical confidentiality); official secrets; banking secrecy; commercial secrets; investigation and judicial secrecy; information relating to an individual's private and family life; and information concerning terrorist acts. Access to such information is regulated by the relevant legislative acts.
Access to information is permitted provided that it does not prejudice the protection of the political, economic, military, financial, credit, or monetary policy interests of the Republic of Azerbaijan; public order; public health and morality; the rights and freedoms of others; commercial and other economic interests; the authority and impartiality of the judiciary; or the proper conduct of pre-trial criminal investigations.
Nevertheless, the aforementioned legislation does not provide for the regulation of social networking platforms or their governance. The concept of a "social networking platform" is not defined under the existing legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan yet. Accordingly, the proposed new law not only introduces a legal framework of this concept, but also establishes the rules governing the use of social networking platforms, as well as the rights and obligations of platform users.
The Social Networking Laws introduce several definitions into the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan “On Information, Informatization and Protection of Information.”
Accordingly, a social networking platform is defined as an information system that enables users to create personal digital accounts, establish virtual connections with other users, and share digital content (including text, photographs, videos, audio, and other content) individually and/or publicly, with its primary function being to facilitate digital interaction among users.
On the other hand, a personal digital account means a digital page created during the registration of a natural or legal person on a platform, which ensures the identification of the user, the posting, management, and sharing of information belonging to the user, the establishment of connections with other users, and the personalized use of the platform’s services. Such an account is protected by unique identification and authentication credentials (including a username, password, multi-factor authentication tools, etc.) and serves as the basis for the application of the rights and obligations of the user.
Amendments introduce “age-restricted social networking platforms”, the list of which is to be determined by the relevant government authority and is an information system that, subject to applicable age restrictions, facilitates digital interaction among users through the public sharing of digital content (including text, photographs, videos, audio, and other content), except where such interaction is established for educational, healthcare, or professional/business purposes.
Finally, a legal or natural person that develops the technological infrastructure of the platform, determines its operating principles and user rules, exercises direct control over the algorithms governing the sharing of digital content (including text, photographs, videos, audio, and other content) and the processing of user data, and is responsible for the administration and operation of the platform is a platform provider.
Newly introduced Article 13-5 of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On Information, Informatization and Protection of Information," requires that providers of age-restricted social networking platforms offering services to users in the Republic of Azerbaijan are now required to establish a legal presence in the country.
Where the platform provider is a natural person, it must register with the Azerbaijani tax authorities and where the provider is a legal entity, it must obtain state registration in accordance with the Law "On State Registration and State Register of Legal Entities." In the case of a foreign legal entity, such registration must be effected through the establishment of a branch or representative office in Azerbaijan.
The newly introduced provision also establishes several operational obligations for social networking platform providers. In particular, providers are required to establish a dedicated contact center to facilitate prompt and effective communication with Azerbaijani state authorities, publicly disclose the relevant contact information, and ensure that communications with the contact center can be conducted in the official state language of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
It should also be noted that, where the platform provider is a foreign legal entity, its branch or representative office established in Azerbaijan is prohibited from carrying out entrepreneurial or commercial activities on behalf of the provider. Instead, such a branch or representative office is authorised solely to represent the provider in its relations with state authorities, natural and legal persons, and to protect the provider's rights and legitimate interests within the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Compliance obligations for providers of age-restricted social networking platforms primarily aim to protect minors and ensure effective age verification.
Under the new rules, individuals under the age of 16 are prohibited from creating a personal digital account on an age-restricted social networking platform. To ensure compliance with this requirement, platform providers may implement various technical age verification methods, including requiring users to declare their age, verifying the accuracy of the declared age, and, in the case of users aged 16 to 18, obtaining the consent of the child's legal representative through information associated with a bank card, email address, or mobile telephone number.
Platform providers are also required to continuously monitor users' activity on the platform where necessary for age verification purposes. If there are reasonable grounds to doubt the accuracy of a user's declared age, the provider must conduct a repeated age verification process and where it is established that the applicable age requirements have been violated, the provider must immediately restrict access to the relevant personal digital account.
In addition, the amendments strengthen parental control mechanisms for users between 16 and 18 years of age. The child's legal representative is entitled to determine the categories of content and advertisements that may be displayed on the child's individual digital account, as well as the periods during which the child may access and use the platform. Platform providers are required to implement the technical functionality necessary to enable such parental controls.
Finally, platform providers must submit an annual report to the competent authority by 15 January of each calendar year. The report must include information on compliance with the abovementioned obligations, together with statistical data on applications for the creation of personal digital accounts that were refused.
The Law seeks to enhance the protection of users' personal data and privacy.
In particular, a platform provider may not retain in its information systems or transfer to third parties any personal data collected solely for the purpose of age verification. Such data may not be used for commercial purposes, targeted advertising, or any purpose other than verifying the user's age. Once the age verification process has been completed, the provider is required to ensure the immediate deletion of the personal data collected for that purpose.
Under Article 13-4.10, providers must ensure the deletion of information, content and personal data uploaded by a user before reaching the age of majority upon the request of the user, or, where the user is still a minor, upon the request of the user's legal representative or the competent authority. Providers may also remove such content on their own initiative in circumstances specified in their internal policies.
In addition, Article 13-4.11 requires platform providers to implement a range of technical and privacy safeguards for users aged 16 to 18. These include enabling users to activate a safe-use mode and enhanced privacy settings; applying privacy-protective default settings to all personal digital accounts; restricting the accessibility and public disclosure of geolocation data; preventing the dissemination of content and advertisements that may be harmful to a child's physical or mental health or that may encourage addictive behaviour; and prohibiting the use of manipulative design techniques, such as infinite scrolling and the automatic playback of videos.
Furthermore, Article 13-4.12 obliges platform providers to deploy continuous digital monitoring and response mechanisms capable of promptly identifying and addressing harmful content that threatens the life, health, sexual integrity, honour, dignity or other legally protected rights and freedoms of children aged 16 to 18 and take the necessary technical measures within 24 hours where such harmful content is detected.
Under the current legislation, violations of the legislation on personal data are punishable by a fine ranging from AZN 300 to AZN 500 in the following cases:
Moving to the criminal legal aspect, following actions can create criminal liability:
It should be noted that the acts described above may be committed either individually or jointly. Persons who unlawfully retain, disclose, disseminate, sell, or otherwise transfer protected information may incur criminal liability either as principal offenders (co-perpetrators) or as accomplices, depending on the nature and extent of their participation in the commission of the offence.
Where a legal entity is involved, criminal liability may attach only to the natural persons who committed the above-mentioned acts, provided that they acted intentionally, fully understood the nature and consequences of their conduct, and possessed the requisite criminal intent required for the commission of the offence.
On the other hand, amendments impose further sanctions regarding compliance requirements. Pursuant to the amendments to the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On Information, Informatization and Protection of Information," where a provider fails to comply with the registration requirement within six months after being included in the official list of age-restricted social networking platforms (following the list's entry into legal force), the competent authority may apply the following enforcement measures in a progressive manner:
If the registration requirements are fulfilled before the sanction referred to in paragraph 6 is imposed, only one quarter of the applicable financial sanction shall be payable, while three quarters of any amount already paid shall be refunded.
Furthermore, once the provider complies with the registration requirement, all non-monetary enforcement measures must be lifted within 24 hours.
Furthermore, pursuant to the amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences, administrative fines ranging from AZN 6 000 to 50 000 are introduced for non-performance of the following obligations:
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