President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has signed amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses, as well as to the laws "On Information, Informatization and Protection of Information" and "On Protection of Children from Harmful Information."
According to the amendments, fines are established for social network providers with age restrictions for failure to provide, untimely provision, or provision of incomplete or distorted information to the authorized state body. In such cases, officials face fines ranging from 6,000 to 7,000 manats, and legal entities from 15,000 to 20,000 manats.
For ignoring requests from the authorized body within five working days or providing incomplete or unreliable information, it is proposed to fine officials from 7,000 to 8,000 manats, and legal entities from 25,000 to 30,000 manats.
The bill also provides for liability for violations of requirements to ensure the safe use of social networks by minors. This includes, in particular, failure to apply user age verification mechanisms when creating digital accounts, lack of necessary technical and protective measures for users aged 16 to 18, and failure to take measures to prevent the spread of malicious content threatening the life, health, honor, dignity, and other rights of minors.
Platforms may also be held liable for storing and using users' personal data for purposes not related to age verification, including commercial purposes and targeted advertising, as well as for refusing to delete content and personal data posted by a user before reaching adulthood, upon request of the user, their legal representative, or the authorized body.
For such violations, officials face fines from 8,000 to 9,000 manats, and legal entities from 35,000 to 40,000 manats. In case of repeated violation within a year, fines will range from 9,000 to 10,000 manats for officials and from 45,000 to 50,000 manats for legal entities.
The law will enter into force 12 months after official publication.